2023 Highlights


2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015
2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004

December 2023		Source

	Why North Korean Nuclear Blackmail is Unlikely, November 2023. Nuclear-armed North Korea is now expanding and diversifying its arsenal and delivery systems, including the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons. This generates fears that Pyongyang intends to use nuclear coercion to force its political agenda upon South Korea while negating the “nuclear umbrella” provided by Seoul’s ally the United States. Even the expanded nuclear arsenal, however, is unlikely to embolden Pyongyang either to demand specific concessions from Seoul during peacetime on pain of a nuclear attack, or to employ conventional military attacks more aggressively under the cover provided by North Korea’s nuclear weapons. Absent an attempt by Seoul and Washington to topple the Kim regime through invasion, nuclear threats by Pyongyang lack credibility...	EWC
	The Evolution of the Partnership between NATO and Japan, November 2023. On July 11-12, a historic NATO summit meeting was held in Vilnius, Lithuania. In addition to 31 NATO member states, four heads of government of Indo-Pacific countries attended the meeting. Japan and South Korea signed an Individually Tailored Partnership Programs (ITPP) with NATO. This paper examines the trend and significance of the new partnership between NATO and Japan. The summit showcased the strong ties among NATO countries and partnered states 17 months after the ruthless Russian aggression against Ukraine that started in February 2022. Perhaps the most important nature of this summit was mutual recognition of the inseparability of the security of the Euro-Atlantic Zone and that of the Indo-Pacific arena...	EWC
	Techno-Geopolitics and US Support for India’s Quantum Ambition, November 2023. Allaying obstacles that may have existed before, India and the United States have made it clear that they are entering an era of ‘techno-geopolitics.’ Amid the intensifying China-US tech rivalry, the United States, betting big on India’s long-term technological prospects and its pivotal role in Indo-Pacific geopolitics, has forged ‘a technology partnership for the future’ during the State Visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the United States in June 2023. The US-India Joint Statement, released at the conclusion of the State Visit, is a comprehensive iteration of all the major facets of new and emerging technologies and, therefore, rightly claims that ‘no corner of human enterprise is untouched by the partnership.’...	EWC
	China’s South China Sea Overreach Faces Growing Obstacles, November 2023. A Chinese Coast Guard vessel blasting a smaller Philippines boat with a powerful water cannon reinforces the perception that Beijing is successfully advancing its territorial claims in the South China Sea. Several aspects of the PRC’s policy have made pushback difficult. First, with considerable success, Beijing has blocked the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) from opposing major Chinese objectives. Second, Beijing has used “gray zone” tactics to improve its position and intimidate the other claimants without incurring military retaliation. Third, China’s huge economic and industrial capacity has enabled the Chinese to fill the South China Sea with more and larger Coast Guard and Navy ships than other claimants can match, not to mention deputizing swarms of Chinese fishing boats to carry out strategic tasks...	EWC
	Maui Wildfires: Opportunities and Lessons in Resiliency for the Pacific Region, November 2023. The August 2023 Maui Wildfires wrought catastrophic damage on Maui and revealed a range of tragic vulnerabilities facing the State of Hawai‘i. A few early lessons from Hawai‘i’s experiences provide key insights for communities across the Indo-Pacific and should be harnessed to promote action to mitigate future disasters. Maui’s tragedy demonstrates that communities and leaders across the Indo-Pacific must prepare for the new normal of extreme weather events. The aftermath of such events may include devastation akin to that experienced by the town of Lahaina on August 8, 2023...	EWC
	Timor-Leste’s Uncertain Future, November 2023. This paper intends to start a conversation about a broad yet crucial question: what does the future hold for Timor-Leste? And in turn, what does that mean for the Indo-Pacific region? It examines key challenges confronting the country over the next decade, with a focus on how economics, governance, and the transnational issues of climate change, pandemic preparedness, and geopolitics will impact the small island nation. Timor-Leste has accomplished a great deal over the past two decades but faces headwinds that, if left unaddressed, could undo much of what it has achieved. Its future is not preordained, and decisions made by Asia’s youngest nation over the coming years will determine the direction it takes. Australia and Indonesia loom large in this equation, and they will certainly have a vested interest in the course Timor-Leste chooses to take.	Lowy
	Australia’s Semiconductor Manufacturing Moonshot: Securing Semiconductor Talent, November 2023. Semiconductors are a critical component in all modern technologies, from personal communication devices and medical devices to weapons systems. Crucial to producing semiconductors is the availability of a highly skilled workforce, managing clean-room facilities and highly specialised equipment to execute the hundreds of unique steps needed to manufacture a single wafer, depending on the complexity of the chip. ASPI’s 2022 report, Australia’s semiconductor national moonshot, laid out the strategic reasons why Australia must embark on a capacity-building initiative to create a homegrown semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem. Every item on the Australian federal government’s List of Critical Technologies in the National Interest is dependent on semiconductors...	ASPI
	Abandoning Neutrality, Absorbing Multipolarity: India and Sweden by 2047, November 2023. Pragmatism and polarised positioning have become the new normal in foreign policy decision making – and Sweden and India are no exception. Sweden moved away from and perhaps permanently abandoned its neutrality discourse in foreign policy by joining the European Union (EU) in 1995, more recently by applying for North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) membership and, importantly, by demonstrating a positive attitude towards the Indo-Pacific. As a rising power, India has been engaging for some time in a national interest-oriented multi-aligned strategy, moving away from its original non-aligned discourse, particularly in order to balance an expansionist China. The move away from neutrality and towards multipolarity is thus a common thread in both Indian and Swedish foreign policies, but what might their future relationship entail?...	ISDP
	Women’s Political Participation and Agency in Indonesia: An Interview with Raneeta Mutiara, November 2023. In the context of the upcoming Indonesian presidential elections of February 2024, ISDP’s Asia Program intern Nolwenn Gueguen sat down with PhD scholar from the Singapore University of Social Sciences, Raneeta Mutiara, to shed light on women’s political participation in Indonesia. They first discussed the role of feminism in the Indonesian context before expanding on women’s political agency within Islamist organizations and its effects on the upcoming elections...	ISDP
	An Interview with Professor Torbjörn Lodén: EU and U.S. Relations with China in Retrospect and Looking Ahead, November 2023. The Institute for Security & Development Policy (ISDP) has for the past three years had the honor and privilege of Professor Torbjörn Lodén serving as its Head of the Stockholm China Center. With his tenure having recently drawn to a close, he sat down for an interview with ISDP Research Fellow, Agust Börjesson, to look back on how China’s relations with the U.S. and Europe have developed under his watch and to discuss what could potentially lie ahead for relations with China in the era of Sino-American rivalry.	ISDP
	From Alipay to the Digital Yuan: China’s Fintech Revolution, November 2023. Fintech in China manifests itself in ways that are qualitatively different from its development in Western countries. The unique blend of a mobile-first consumer base, underdeveloped traditional banking services, regulatory freedom, vast economies of scale, the influence of Chinese tech giants, extensive government support, and the enthusiastic embrace of fintech by Chinese consumers, has allowed the fintech industry to grow rapidly and permeate society more extensively in China compared to the West. China’s fintech growth, transformed by the launch of Alibaba’s Alipay in 2004, benefitted from supportive government policies and pioneering companies. Tech giants like Alibaba integrated fintech services deeply into expansive digital ecosystems, ensuring widespread adoption. By 2018, China led in global fintech investment and adoption rates surpassing global averages...	ISDP
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2023 #18: The Evolution of Madani: How Is 2.0 Different from 1.0. In 1995, then Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim introduced “Masyarakat Madani” as his proposed economic framework for Malaysia. The term was heavily debated among scholars and politicians across all parties and ideologies. It was often argued that Madani was an effort to limit the rise of political Islam. Following Anwar Ibrahim’s dismissal from government in 1998, Madani came to be more narrowly redefined as “civil society”. However, Anwar’s supporters, known as the “Anwarinas”, strove to keep the spirit of Madani alive and continued to promote its ideals of social justice, democratic values and inclusivity. They were encouraged further by the fall of Barisan Nasional from federal power in the 14th General Election in 2018...	ISEAS
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2023 #17: Post-Islamism Battles Political Islam in Malaysia. During the 15th general election (GE15) in 2022 and the state elections in 2023, the clash between Anwar Ibrahim and PAS reached new heights. This can be viewed as a battle between political Islam and post-Islamism. Political Islam as embodied by PAS pursues the establishment of an Islamic state, while post-Islamism as represented by Anwar Ibrahim is a way of balancing the ambitions of Islam with secular approaches. While PAS has been consistent in espousing political Islam since its establishment, Anwar Ibrahim’s approach to the role of Islam in politics has changed since his early days in UMNO. Evolving from an Islamist involved in state-led Islamization to a post-Islamist, he now espouses democratic values and multiculturalism...	ISEAS
	Regulating Artificial Intelligence: Maximising Benefits and Minimising Harms, August 2023. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made a resurgence in the last years, garnering the attention of the media, policymakers and the masses alike. The launch of free generative AI tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Stability AI’s Stable Diffusion have given rise to myriad concerns in different sectors like politics, business, education, arts and entertainment, and human rights. While predictive AI harnesses its training data to make complex calculations and predictions, generative AI takes what it learns from training data and examples or prompts to create new content. Generative AI can be useful in increasing productivity by providing hyperpersonalised support in various contexts. However, the technology can also easily be misused by malicious actors...	IPS
	Public Deliberation on Singapore's Fiscal Policies and National Reserves, August 2023. What the government spends on and how they fund such spendings are fundamental aspects of a country’s fiscal policies. Situating this within the framework of Singapore, our fiscal policies play a pivotal role in the ongoing Forward Singapore initiative, which aspires to foster a rejuvenated “social compact”. This social compact refreshes and strengthens the shared understanding between all segments of society on their respective roles and responsibilities, and how they relate to one another...	IPS
	Monetary Authority of Singapore: Macroeconomic Review, Volume XXII, Issue 2, October 2023 (Full Report). In the April 2023 Monetary Policy Statement, MAS maintained the rate of appreciation of the Singapore dollar nominal effective exchange rate (S$NEER) policy band, with no change to the width of the band or level at which it was centred. Since then, the S$NEER has broadly strengthened in line with the appreciating policy band. Global economic activity has moderated reflecting weaker growth in the Eurozone and China, even as the US economy has thus far been resilient. In the near term, global final demand is expected to soften amid elevated interest rates. Nevertheless, the risk of a sharp global downturn, precipitated by financial vulnerabilities, has receded compared to earlier in the year. Growth in Singapore’s major trading partners should gradually pick up later in 2024 as inflation continues to ease and the electronics cycle turns up modestly, although the timing and extent of the recovery is subject to significant uncertainty...	MAS
	Financial Stability Review 2023. The global economy has shown resilience to the cumulative effects of monetary tightening thus far. However, growth could moderate in the coming year as major central banks maintain sufficiently restrictive monetary policy stances to achieve their inflation targets. The sharp increase in both short- and long-term interest rates over the past year has induced a tightening of financial conditions and a repricing of financial assets. While these developments are symptomatic of monetary tightening, interactions with the financial vulnerabilities and market fragilities built up during the COVID-19 pandemic could amplify the effects of interest rate increases and disrupt the functioning of the financial system. The March 2023 US bank failures exposed weaknesses in some banks’ management of duration and liquidity risks in a rising rate environment...	MAS
	Information Paper Series: Orchid Blueprint, November 2023 Interlinking Networks, November 2023 Interoperable QR Payments in Singapore Whitepaper, October 2023 Strengthening Liquidity Risk Management Practices for Fund Management Companies, October 2023 Working Paper on Accelerating the Early Retirement of Coal-Fired Power Plants through Carbon Credits, September 2023 MAS Enforcement Report 2022/2023, September 2023 Project Guardian - Open and Interoperable Networks, June 2023 Purpose Bound Money (PBM) Technical Whitepaper, June 2023 Project Cedar Phase II x Ubin, May 2023 Corporate Finance Thematic Inspection - Good Practices and Key Findings, April 2023	MAS
	Latest ADB Working Paper Series: Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Digital Platforms, and Competition Policies in Asia, November 2023 E-Commerce and Its Role during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Indonesia, November 2023 Faster, Taller, Better: Transit Improvements and Land Use Policies, November 2023 Demography, Growth, and Robots in Advanced and Emerging Economies, November 2023	ADB
	Latest ADB Publications: Asia Bond Monitor, November 2023 Financing for Public Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: The Cases of the Republic of Korea and the United States, November 2023 Greening the Financial System: Climate Financial Risks and How ADB Can Help, December 2023 The Model Forest Act Initiative (MoFAI): A Global Partnership to Improve the Legal Protection of Native Forests, November 2023 Elderly Care System Development in Yichang, People’s Republic of China, November 2023 Using Administrative Data to Strengthen Development Statistics in Asia and the Pacific, November 2023 The Race to Manufacture COVID-19 Vaccines: Emerging Vaccine Technologies, November 2023 Asian Perspectives on Sovereign Debt and Managing Fiscal Risks, November 2023 Is There a Case for Bioplastics? Experience from Thailand, November 2023 E-Commerce Evolution in Asia and the Pacific: Opportunities and Challenges, November 2023 The Pacific Risk Knowledge Series Summary Report, November 2023 Job Matching for Youth in Asia and the Pacific: A Transitions Approach for Positive Labor Market Pathways, November 2023 Multi-level Governance and Subnational Finance in Asia and the Pacific, November 2023 Navigating Resilient Post-Disaster Recovery in Asia and the Pacific, November 2023 Earth Observation Services and Tools for Development: Examples from Indonesia, November 2023	ADB
	Latest APEC publications: Highlights: Economic and Technical Cooperation in APEC 2023 APEC Case Study: Technology Empowering BCG Economy Model, November 2023 Achieving Carbon Neutrality through Bio-Circular-Green Economy Principle in APEC Region, November 2023 Review of the APEC Investment Facilitation Action Plan (IFAP): Forging a Stronger Recovery, November 2023 The Current State of AI Implementation within the APEC Region for COVID-19 Mitigation, November 2023 Set of Voluntary Recommendations on Using Digital Technologies to Provide Services for Older Adults in Poverty Condition in APEC Economies, November 2023 Recommendations and Guidelines of Integrative Medicine (IM) for COVID-19 Care, November 2023 Women in Global Value Chains: An APEC Benchmarking Study, November 2023 Fact sheet: 2023 APEC Economic Policy Report 2023 APEC Economic Policy Report 2023 CTI Annual Report to Ministers APEC Regional Trends Analysis, November 2023 APEC in Charts 2023 Blueprint for Advancing Good Regulatory Practices in the APEC Region, November 2023 APEC Workshop on Promoting Green Garment and Textile Sector towards Inclusive and Sustainable Growth - Summary Report, November 2023	APEC


November 2023

	An Australian Maritime Strategy: Resourcing the Royal Australian Navy, October 2023. Australia is a maritime nation. The sheer scale of our sovereign maritime territory and responsibilities, our dependence on maritime trade for our prosperity and the increasing value of activity in the maritime environment must all be recognised in our maritime strategy. In a highly interconnected world, we face fundamental vulnerabilities from the realities of our geostrategic situation. In this report, the author argues that the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) lacks the resources to adequately protect Australia’s vast maritime interests. This concern isn’t unique to our time: maritime strategists have long lamented that, despite being uniquely an island, a continent and a nation, Australia struggles to understand the central importance of a maritime strategy to our defence and security...	ASPI
	Where Next for the Australia–South Korea Partnership? October 2023. The strategic partnership between Australia and South Korea holds great potential in an increasingly challenging time. The two nations have many common strategic interests and both can rightly claim to be regional powers. However, the relationship remains a relative underperformer compared with other key regional relationships and has suffered from inconsistency. When Canberra’s contemporary relationship with Seoul receives attention from Australian analysts, it tends to be framed largely in the context of the threats posed by Pyongyang...	ASPI
	Building Whole-Of-Nation Statecraft: How Australia Can Better Leverage Subnational Diplomacy in the US Alliance, October 2023. Australia and the US are both federations of states in which power is shared constitutionally between the national and subnational levels of government. However, traditionally, one domain that hasn’t been considered a shared power, but rather the constitutionally enshrined responsibility of the national governments, has been international affairs (in the US Constitution through Article I, Section 10 and other clauses and in the Australian Constitution through section 51 (xxix), known as the external affairs power). For this reason, foreign-policy and national-security decision-makers in Washington DC and Canberra have rightly seen themselves as the prime actors in the policymaking that develops and strengthens the US–Australia alliance and all global relationships, with limited power held by subnational governments...	ASPI
	‘Doing Good Deeds Quietly’: The Rise of Intelligence Diplomacy as a Potent Tool of Statecraft, October 2023. Intelligence diplomacy’ - using intelligence actors and relationships to conduct, or substantially facilitate, diplomatic relations - is a potent tool for statecraft; useful in specific circumstances to either enhance conventional diplomacy or create subtler lines of communication. Intelligence diplomacy, its increasing utility and potential hazards, is the subject of Doing good deeds quietly, the latest report from ASPI’s Statecraft & Intelligence Centre. The report finds that governments turn to intelligence diplomacy when a variety of circumstances – and critically those governments’ assessments of related capabilities and effectiveness of their intelligence services – makes use of intelligence actors or relationships attractive and advantageous...	ASPI
	Surveillance, Privacy and Agency: Insights from China, October 2023. ASPI and a non-government research partner conducted a year-long project designed to share detailed and accurate information on state surveillance in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and engage residents of the PRC on the issue of surveillance technology. A wide range of topics was covered, including how the party-state communicates on issues related to surveillance, as well as people’s views on state surveillance, data privacy, facial recognition, DNA collection and data-management technologies...	ASPI
	US Land Power in the Indo-Pacific: Opportunities for the Australian Army, October 2023. The US Army is undergoing its most consequential period of transformation since the end of the Cold War. The re-emergence of great power competition and a deteriorating strategic environment is forcing the US Army to rethink not just its approach to land warfare but also its future role alongside the US Marine Corps in key regions around the globe. In the Indo-Pacific, this doctrinal and structural transformation is informing a new approach to joint exercises and 'no gaps' defence collaboration to deter Chinese aggression. These developments hold important insights for key US allies and partners, including Australia and Japan...	ASPI
	Reducing Remittance Costs in the Pacific Islands, October 2023. For Pacific Island countries, remittances — money sent home by family and friends working overseas — are a key source of national income and act as social safety nets where social security programs can be underfunded. Remittances help pay for schooling, food, housing, and healthcare, and support families during emergencies. They provide capital for business investment, especially for women. During the Covid-19 pandemic, remittances outperformed foreign direct investment and official development assistance (ODA) as a source of income for low to middle-income countries. The inflows from remittances also maintained foreign exchange reserves and were a lifeline to communities when regular income was disrupted...	Lowy
	Revitalising the Green Climate Fund, September 2023. The Green Climate Fund, unveiled as part of the Paris Agreement in 2015, was designed as a lynchpin for global climate solidarity between rich and developing countries. Despite its laudable ambitions, the Fund faces important challenges and criticism. It has struggled to define its role in an increasingly crowded climate finance landscape and is seen as slow and difficult to work with, especially for the most vulnerable countries. The GCF is also not effectively targeting its funds towards countries with the greatest needs...	Lowy
	Indo-Pacific Security in 2030-35: Links in the Chain, October 2023. In recent years, events like the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war have brought global supply chains squarely under the spotlight. The economic impact of these disruptive events exposed the vulnerabilities of today’s global value chains (GVCs) in the face of complex, uncertain, and fast-changing environments. In the Indo-Pacific particularly, the escalating geopolitical tensions threaten the stability of supply chains and, by extension, that of the global economy. As a major transit route for international trade – about 80% of the total global trade by volume passes through the region – the Indo-Pacific is of paramount strategic importance...	ISDP
	Contemporary Hong Kong-Taiwan Relations in China’s Shadow. October 2023. On November 25, 2022, the Institute for Security and Development Policy (ISDP) arranged a webinar titled “Contemporary Hong Kong-Taiwan Relations in the Shadow of the People’s Republic of China”. The basic idea behind this webinar was to explore in some depth the relations between the Hong Kong democracy movement and Taiwan. To this end, seven distinguished speakers—scholars, commentators, and activists—were invited from Hong Kong and Taiwan to discuss these relations against the background of Beijing’s tightening control over Hong Kong and its aspiration to bring Taiwan under its rule, by means of military force if necessary.	ISDP
	A New Spring for Caspian Transit and Trade, October 2023. Major recent shifts, starting with the Taliban victory in Afghanistan and Russia’s war in Ukraine have led to a resurgence of the Trans-Caspian transportation corridor. This corridor, envisioned in the 1990s, has been slow to come to fruition, but has now suddenly found much-needed support. The obstacles to a rapid expansion of the corridor’s capacity are nevertheless considerable, given the underinvestment in its capacity over many years.	ISDP
	Russia-DPRK Space Cooperation: It’s Politics, Not Science, October 2023. The recent Vostochny summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin has attracted much international attention. The fact that both leaders pledged to strengthen bilateral ties but did not release a joint statement invites speculation about the nature of their agreement. One area that did emerge as a clear priority in Moscow’s and Pyongyang’s future engagement is space and satellite technology. This issue brief looks at the motives behind Putin’s offer to help North Korea build satellites. It argues that Russia perceives its offer as a “win-win situation” that capitalizes on the opportunity to offer Pyongyang something of key strategic interest while reasserting its own self-understanding as a global space power. Still, providing technical assistance to the regime in Pyongyang is a low-hanging fruit, and will not serve to strengthen Moscow’s space capacity or international perception thereof.	ISDP
	Human Capital, Amenities and Trade: The Case of Malaysia, September 2023. Human capital plays an increasingly important role in economies undergoing structural transformation that involves technological upgrading and sustained trade competitiveness. Both production and consumption amenities are essential to develop, attract and support a workforce with high human capital. Different types of production and consumption amenities are relevant for different kinds of activities at various locations. As human capital growth is likely to be accompanied by worsening inequality, complementary policies are needed to promote inclusiveness without dampening human capital development.	ISEAS
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2023 #16: The Labour Politics of App-Based Driving in Vietnam. The platform economy consists of three broad categories of companies: those that “provide digital services and products to individual users, such as social media”; those that “mediate exchange of goods and services, such as e-commerce or business-to-business (B2B) platforms”; and digital labour platforms, which “mediate and facilitate labour exchange between different users, such as businesses, workers, and consumers”. Digital labour platforms can be classified into two main types: “gig work platforms”3 or “location-based platforms”4 which refer to work that is done in a specific location (e.g., driving or domestic services)...	ISEAS
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2023 #15: Indonesia’s Moderate Muslim Websites and Their Fight against Online Islamic Extremism. The Indonesian Anti-Terrorism Agency (Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Terorisme, or BNPT) argues that Islamist terrorists had previously focused on “hard power”, such as bombings of Western-related targets, or suicide bombings, to attain their objectives. But in recent years, due to state repression and dwindling public support, terrorists have abandoned this strategy, and now resort instead to “soft power”. Soft power here refers to the use of non-violent means to achieve one’s interests. Terrorists now use the Internet, including social media, or join community organizations which they utilize later on, to gain support for their cause...	ISEAS
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2023 #14: Terrorism in Indonesia and the Perceived Oppression of Muslims Worldwide. Existing scholarship on terrorism has pointed out various motives underlying violent acts. Notably, Kruglanski, Bélanger, and Gunaratna (2019) argue that such intent could stem from perpetrators’ unfulfilled basic needs, their exposure to violent and extremist narratives since they were young, and the outreach by terrorist networks to them. Additionally, an insightful study by Putra and Sukabdi (2013, p. 84) provides a more region-specific example. Through conducting in-depth interviews with forty religious terror activists in Indonesia...	ISEAS
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2023 #13: A Review of Data, Policy and Transparency in Reducing Methane Emissions in Malaysia. There is no clear national plan for methane action yet. Since signing the Pledge in 2021, there has been no demonstrable government initiative focusing on joined-up methane action at the national level. Malaysia does not have a methane strategy or policy, and sector-specific regulations focusing on methane emissions are either not present, vague, or publicly inaccessible. There are indications emissions are falling due to positive corporate action. Effective methane reduction initiatives exist in Malaysia’s top two methane-emitting sectors, oil and gas and palm oil, and key players have committed to net zero pathways with methane reductions central to progress to 2030. Emissions should be expected to rapidly fall further if action can be scaled across all industry players..l	ISEAS
	Latest APEC publications: APEC Workshop on Empowering Indigenous Social Awareness on Renewable Energy and Increasing Inclusion Sustainability for Green Energy Applications in APEC Regions, October 2023 Assessing Existing and Planned Hydrogen Infrastructure to Facilitate Widespread Hydrogen Use in the APEC Region - Final Report, October 2023 Regional Workshop on Dementia Prevention, October 2023 NGS-based Microbial Testing for Probiotics Products: Guidelines Development and Laboratory Capacity Building - Final Summary Report, October 2023 Mutual Recognition Agreements Toolkit, October 2023 APEC Smart Families: Menu of Policy Options for Demographic Resilience, October 2023 Digital Innovation and Educational Opportunities - Final Report, October 2023 Tourism Crisis Management Communication Plan, October 2023 Enhanced APEC Agenda for Structural Reform: Individual Action Plans - Updated as at August 2023, October 2023 Enhanced APEC Agenda for Structural Reform (EAASR) Mid-Term Review Report, October 2023	APEC
	Latest ADB Working Paper Series: Effect of Macroprudential Policies on Sovereign Bond Markets: Evidence from the ASEAN-4 Countries, October 2023 Asymmetric Spillovers in ASEAN Bond Markets, October 2023 Gender Gaps in Ownership of Nonagricultural Enterprises in Georgia, Mongolia, and the Philippines, October 2023 Health Spending Efficiency in Developing Asia, October 2023 Factors Affecting Carbon Dioxide Emissions Embodied in Trade, October 2023	ADB
	Latest ADBI Working Paper Series: Vessel Day Scheme and Tuna Catch in the Pacific Island Region, October 2023 Transition from Coals to Renewable Energy: Evidence from Indonesia, October 2023 Enhancing the Credibility of Corporate Climate Pledges – Bringing Climate Transition Plans and Climate Scenario Analysis into the Mainstream, October 2023 Role and Development Pathways of Green Hydrogen Energy toward Carbon Neutrality Targets, October 2023 Climate-Safe Refrigerants, October 2023	ADB
	Latest ADB Publications: The Ocean–Energy Economy: A Multifunctional Approach, October 2023 A Conceptual Understanding of Fragility in Asia and the Pacific, October 2023 Strengthening Biodiversity Conservation in the Yellow River Basin of Henan Province, the People’s Republic of China, October 2023 Celebrating 50 Years of the Asian Development Fund, October 2023 Methodological Framework for Unlocking Maritime Insights Using Automatic Identification System Data, October 2023 Online Platforms, Pandemic, and Business Resilience in Indonesia: A Joint Study by Gojek and the Asian Development Bank, October 2023 Asia Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Monitor 2023: How Small Firms Can Contribute to Resilient Growth in the Pacific Post COVID-19 Pandemic, October 2023 Macroeconomic Policies Promoting Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy, October 2023 Rebuilding Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises Post-COVID-19 in Mongolia, October 2023 Regional Flyway Initiative: Climate Investments that Benefit People and Nature, October 2023 Data Analytics in Indian Railways: Status and Prospects, October 2023 Measuring Progress on Women’s Financial Inclusion and Entrepreneurship in the Philippines: Results from a Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprise Survey, October 2023 An Assessment of Rules of Origin in RCEP and ASEAN+1 Free Trade Agreements, October 2023 Fostering Resilient Global Supply Chains Amid Risk and Uncertainty, October 2023 Where Women Work in Asia and the Pacific: Implications for Policies, Equity, and Inclusive Growth, October 2023 Assessment of Merger Control in the Philippines, October 2023 Hydrogen in Decarbonization Strategies in Asia and the Pacific, October 2023 Asian Development Bank in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, October 2023 Women’s Economic Empowerment as a Pathway Toward Sustainable and Inclusive Development in India, October 2023 Rule of Law Approach for More Resilient Global Supply Chains and Financial Architecture, October 2023	ADB
	Asian Development Review, Vol. 40, No. 2, September 2023 (Full Report). This issue looks at various challenges related to COVID-19 and explores diverse topics that include health reform, the benefits of bank-based financial development, and priorities for strengthening revenue sources: Mini Symposium: Selected Papers from AEDC 2022 Not All That It Seems: Narrowing of Gender Gaps in Employment during the Onset of COVID-19 in Indonesia Predicting Provincial Gross Domestic Product Using Satellite Data and Machine Learning Methods: A Case Study of Thailand Climate-Related Transition Risk and Corporate Debt Financing: Evidence from Southeast Asia The People’s Republic of China’s 40-Year Demographic Dividend and Labor Supply: The Quantity Myth Trust as Key to Health Sector Reforms Which Way to Go Now? Financing Economic Growth in the Sustainable Development Era Impacts of the COVID-19 Lockdown on Consumption: Household Data from India Could Better Jobs for Men Have Improved Gender Equality? The Relationship between Economic Growth and Gender Equality in India Priorities for Strengthening Key Revenue Sources in Asia Population Aging, Pension Systems, and Economic Growth: Applying an Overlapping Generations Model to the Informal Sector The Role of Foreign Direct Investment and Trade in Urbanization in Developing Asia: Structural Changes after the Global Financial Crisis Impact of Rural Credit on Household Welfare: Evidence from a Long-Term Panel in Bangladesh The Effects of Digitalization, Energy Intensity, and the Demographic Dividend on Viet Nam’s Economic Sustainability Goals	ADB


October 2023

	High Frequency Macroeconomic Forecasts Current Quarter Model: 2023Q4, October 2023. The full resumption of normal travel between Hong Kong and the Mainland provided impetus to travel-related service exports. Hong Kong’s economy has recovered to grow by 2.2% in the first half of 2023. It is expected to accelerate and grow by 4.7% in 23Q3. Brought by a series of economic stimulating activities by the government, Hong Kong’s tourism industry continues to improve in 23Q4, simultaneously driving up local consumer sentiment. The job market has already recovered to pre-pandemic full employment levels, and the unemployment rate has registered a new low in 25 years. The unemployment rate is expected to drop slightly to 2.7% in 23Q4 from 2.8% in 23Q3. Hong Kong’s real GDP is expected to grow by 6.2% in 23Q4, partly due to a lower base of comparison. Hong Kong’s economy is projected to rise by 3.8% for the year 2023 as a whole, a downward adjustment of 0.8 percentage points compared to our previous forecast, reflecting the adjustment for the unexpectedly slower growth in 23Q2.	HKU
	Asian Development Outlook, September 2023 (Full Report, Highlights ) The economic outlook for Asia and the Pacific remains upbeat, with the region’s developing economies expected to grow 4.7% in 2023, and 4.8% in 2024, but risks remain elevated. According to the latest edition of the Asian Development Outlook, growth will remain resilient, supported by domestic demand, recovering tourism, and stable financial conditions. Decelerating inflation across the Asia and the Pacific is also a positive. However, these prospects are tempered by weaker global demand weighing on exports and softening domestic demand in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). A particular worry is whether the PRC’s property market will weaken further. The region faces other challenges. High interest rates have elevated financial stability risks. A looming El Niño and restrictions on food exports could challenge food security. And geopolitical tensions and the fracturing of global production could disrupt trade. These risks are considerable and varied, and policymakers will need to closely track them...	ADB
	Community Driven Development, Climate Change, and Resiliency: Lessons from Solomon Islands, September 2023. Between 2009 and 2022, the Rural Development Program (RDP) built 663 small scale infrastructure projects chosen by communities across Solomon Islands. As RDP closed, the author visited 68 projects to assess a) the utility of the Community Driven Development (CDD) methodology, and b) how CDD may have been used by communities to ameliorate climate and disaster impacts. He surprisingly found that communities used CDD to replace water sources damaged by logging. Overall, CDD proved robust and adaptable, and was used by communities to build needed climate- and disaster-resilient infrastructure. However, the ability for communities to respond to climate risk was limited due to the scale of sea level rise. This paper concludes with recommendations to make community-led interventions more resilient to climate and disaster risk.	EWC
	Developing Australia’s Critical Minerals and Rare Earths: Implementing the Outcomes From the 2023 Darwin Dialogue, September 2023. Critical minerals and rare earths are the building blocks for emerging and future technologies, inseparable from the supply chains of manufacturing, clean energy production, medical technology, semiconductors, and the defence and aerospace industries. Despite their criticality, their supply chains are exposed to numerous vulnerabilities – threatening the production and development of vital technologies. This report—based on closed-door, invitation-only discussions at ASPI’s new Darwin Dialogue, a track 1.5 meeting between Australia, Japan and the US—makes 24 recommendations for government and the private sector to support the development of viable, competitive alternative markets that offer products through supply chains secure from domestic policy disruptions and economic coercion...	ASPI
	COVID-19: Implications for the Indo-Pacific, September 2023. As we approach four years since the first cases of Covid-19 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the world seems relatively familiar again, albeit an increasingly scary place because of war in Europe, accelerating climate change, and the unhealthy nexus between new technologies and authoritarian coercion by Beijing and others. Within this ‘polycrisis’, Covid-19 now feels like a secondary concern. But the world remains unprepared for the next pandemic, which the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has warned could come soon and be even more deadly...	ASPI
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2023 #11: New Chinese Migrants in Thailand and the Perceived Impact on Thai People. The Chinese Open Door Policy implemented in the late 1970s resulted in new patterns of Chinese migrations. Following the Going Out Policy (1999) and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) (2013), around 688,000 new Chinese migrants had emigrated to Southeast Asia by 2020. The characteristics of new Chinese sojourners differ from those of traditional Overseas Chinese in that they come as more well-educated middle-income earners and adapt well to the relocation. The US-China trade war in 2018 and the Coronavirus outbreak in late 2019 aggravated anti-Chinese sentiments in many nations. Xenophobia against Asians rose in Europe and the United States, and along the BRI routes, resistance to the Chinese became more obvious in the domestic politics of host countries...	ISEAS
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2023 #12: Indonesia’s COVID-19 Infodemic: A Battle for Truth or Trust?. On 30 December 2022, many Indonesians breathed a sigh of relief, as their government lifted all remaining COVID-19 measures that day, including restrictions on social gatherings, mandatory mask-wearing indoors, and mandatory use of the COVID-19 tracking app PeduliLindungi (“to care and protect”) in public venues. According to President Joko Widodo (“Jokowi”), the situation was now “under control”, and the Indonesian population had built sufficient immunity to the virus. Indeed, a study from July 2022 conducted by the Health Ministry and the University of Indonesia found that 98.5 per cent of the population had antibodies against COVID-19, either from vaccination or past infections...	ISEAS
	The French Connection: India-France Partnership for the Indo-Pacific Zeitgeist, September 2023. India’s bilateral relationship with France has been a robust one, and a test case for maintaining a distinct trajectory of its own allowing enough elbow room to both countries to practice their respective strategic autonomies. This issue brief after delving into the multi-dimensional convergences of the India-France strategic relationship contends that the partnership between New Delhi and Paris is one of equals based on complementariness of interest and congruence of intent. The complex geopolitics and geo-economics of the Indo-Pacific would require navigating areas of competition, cooperation, and confrontation...	ISDP
	Amid Reports on Chinese Expansion of Bases, Sri Lanka Unveils SOP: Need for a Reality Check? September 2023. India has realized it cannot possibly balance China’s growing influence on its own, nor can it afford to have the U.S. leave the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) given China’s significant presence in the island littorals. New Delhi requires the island nations much more than in the past to collectively balance Indian Ocean security. Sri Lanka is pivotal in this equation. Reports published by Aid Data and RAND have identified the Sri Lankan port Hambantota as a highly probable PLA military base. This issue brief attempts to analyze the US research reports and further draws attention to the geopolitical trends in the IOR, where India, China, and the U.S. are entangled in a great power competition...	ISDP
	Latest APEC publications: Measuring Progress on the Supply Chain Connectivity Framework Action Plan (SCFAP III) 2022–2026: Indicators and Policy Practices, September 2023 APEC Think Tank Cooperation on STl Strategy Study Report, September 2023 Supporting Offshore Wind Deployment and Grid Connection in APEC Region, September 2023 Oil and Gas Security During the Energy Transition - APEC Oil and Gas Security Studies Series 19, September 2023 Stakeholder Engagement and Capacity Building on the APEC Collaborative Framework on ODR to Improve Cross-Border Trade in Indonesia - Final Report, September 2023 APEC Workshop on Eco Design and Eco Label Implementation for SMEs Towards a Green Economy, September 2023 Summary Report - APEC Workshop on Women's Empowerment through Inclusive and Gender-responsive Climate Policymaking, September 2023 Final Report - Building Back Better: Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, and Energy Resiliency in the New Normal, September 2023 Best Practices to Detect and Avoid Harmful Biases in Artificial Intelligence Systems, September 2023 Summary Report - APEC Workshop on Sharing Experiences in Developing Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) to Reduce Electricity Consumption in Industrial Production, September 2023 APEC Capacity Building Workshop on Retro-commissioning (RCx) - Project Final Report and Workshop Summary, September 2023 APEC Sustainable Tourism Evaluation Tool for Visitor and Destination (ASTET), September 2023 Policy Brief: Strengthening Fire Prevention Capacities in the Wildland-Urban Interface, September 2023 Prevention of Forest Fires in the Wildland-Urban Interface. Good Practices Guide for Government Institutions, September 2023 Prevention of Forest Fires in the Wildland-Urban Interface. Good Practices Guide for the Community, September 2023 Comparison of International Frameworks Measuring Remotely Piloted Aircraft Noise - Final Report, September 2023 Impacts of COVID-19 on Renewable Energy Development in APEC Economies, September 2023 Gender and Services Trade in the APEC Region: Policy Brief, September 2023	APEC
	Latest ADB Working Paper Series: How Does Inflation in Advanced Economies Affect Emerging Market Bond Yields? Empirical Evidence from Two Channels, September 2023 Asia’s Transition to Net Zero: Opportunities and Challenges in Agriculture, September 2023 Rural Pensions, Intra-Household Bargaining, and Elderly Medical Expenditure in the People’s Republic of China, September 2023	ADB
	Latest ADB Publications: From Lab to Jab: Improving Asia and the Pacific’s Readiness to Produce and Deliver Vaccines, Published 2023 Bonds to Finance the Sustainable Blue Economy: A Practitioner’s Guide, September 2023 Climate Change and Climate Finance: Current Experience and Future Directions, September 2023 Unlocking the Door to Financial Inclusion: The Papua New Guinea Digital Bank Identification Card Pilot Project, September 2023 Asia Bond Monitor, September 2023 Strategy 2030 Health Sector Directional Guide Summary: Toward the Achievement of Universal Health Coverage in Asia and the Pacific, September 2023 Zero Source Pollution Initiative (ZSPI), September 2023 Accountability Mechanisms for Inclusive City-Level Public Services in Asia, September 2023 Speak Up! Guide to Safely Reporting Suspected Integrity Violations or Misconduct, September 2023 Building Capacity for an Effective Social Welfare System in Mongolia, September 2023 Improving Gender Equality in Nonsovereign Climate Finance Projects: Technical Assistance Completion Report, September 2023 Globally Advancing the Construction and Operation and Maintenance of High-Speed Rail, September 2023 2023 Trade Finance Gaps, Growth, and Jobs Survey, September 2023 What Can Be Done to Improve the Use of Country Governance Systems? September 2023 Civil Society Brief: The Philippines, September 2023	ADB


September 2023

	Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2023 (Full Report): Part I: Sustainable Development Goals Part II: Regional Trends and Tables Part III: Dollar Price Wedge between Nominal and Real Global Value Chain Participation Part IV: Stories Behind Data—Using Price Data and Statistics to Track Socioeconomic Development Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific covers 49 economies: Afghanistan, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Cook Islands, Fiji Islands, Georgia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Kyrgyz Republic, Lao, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, Niue, New Zealand, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Taipei, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, and Viet Nam.	ADB
	South Korea’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, Atmanirbhar Bharat, and the IPEF: Convergence and Commonality, August 2023. For some time now, the existing multilateral networks such as those of the United Nations (UN) system have been largely ineffective in providing good global governance and helping create resilience, especially among the emerging and developing economies. The latest example that highlights the inefficacy of the current system is the collapse of the Black Sea grain deal despite genuine UN efforts. As a result, the world order is experiencing a precarious transition. This has necessitated countries across the world to create newer cooperative multilateral mechanisms that are in tune with the times and can potentially give rise to a resilient strategic landscape, such as providing favorable conditions for economic security...	ISDP
	Pivotal States, Global South and India-South Korea Relations, August 2023. In recent years, the term “Global South”—largely spanning countries in Africa, Central and Latin America, Asia, and the Caribbean—has gained tremendous geopolitical currency. One of the most salient drivers of this reclamation of the so-called emerging and developing world as a symbolic power has been India’s rising strategic and diplomatic prominence. As a vocal member of the community of diverse states, India has refocused its efforts to place the South and its concerns at center stage by coalescing with “like-minded” partners, which was effectively reflected during the 2023 G20 presidency. South Korea is an integral aspect of this global aim...	ISDP
	Assessing the Development of Taiwanese Identity, August 2023. The subject of contemporary Taiwan inevitably evokes controversy concerning its political, national, and cultural identity, especially the fervent dispute regarding its sovereignty and global recognition. Should Taiwan be recognized as a sovereign and independent state under the name of the Republic of China (ROC), or should it be seen as an “inseparable part of one China,” as claimed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC)? Should the people in Taiwan be considered culturally Chinese, or should they be seen as a separate cultural entity? A compelling underpinning of Taiwan’s assertion of separate nationhood and statehood derives from its emphasis on a distinct historical narrative that diverges from that of the PRC...	ISDP
	EU-U.S. Convergence on China Chip Sanctions: On Brittle Ground? August 2023. The United States unveiled new wide-ranging restrictions on China’s semiconductor industry in October 2022, unprecedented in scope and intent. Abandoning the Trump years’ erratic approach to individual Chinese tech companies, the Biden administration comprehensively targeted the entire semiconductor supply chain, including allied exports. Not only did the sanctions cut off access to advanced components containing U.S. technologies, but they also sought to end China’s access to the manufacturing equipment needed to produce such components in the first place. The European Union has since sought to find a balance in the new Sino-American tech war, culminating in the EU’s Economic Security Strategy of June 2023. This issue brief examines the motivations and impacts of the U.S. chips sanctions and how they have impacted transatlantic relations and European semiconductor priorities.	ISDP
	Geopolitical Flux and the Future of International Relations, August 2023. The international political system is undergoing significant geopolitical and economic shifts brought about by fluctuations in the distribution of power among states. This brings into question the future of international cooperation amidst the continuous depletion of global resources and the proliferation of conflict. With the rise and strengthening of potential great and regional powers of the Global South, it is inevitable that the nature of multilateralism will also continue to evolve. However, such an evolution will not only be reliant on material power, but also on the variations in perceptions among states. While multilateralism will remain an undeniable component of international affairs, this issue brief posits that its characteristics will undergo significant reconfigurations based on the growing importance of the Global South and the coinciding interests of developing states to address international issues beyond traditional discourses and methods.	ISDP
	North Korea’s Grey Huddle: A Reverse Perspective of its Analog Military, August 2023. Defense reform has been the keyword for South Korea’s military strategy for over 20 years and recently the country upgraded its strategic defense plan with the new name ‘Defense Innovation 4.0’ under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration. The core logic behind the reform is smaller but stronger manpower through technical advancement. However, there have been unprecedented drawbacks of fully automated weapon systems revealed in public recently and the fathers of Artificial Intelligence have warned about their errors against mankind. On the other hand, technically disadvantaged adversaries, especially North Korea, have honed their defense strategy with their old-fashioned analog military for decades. This issue brief analyzes the gap between the two sides—technically advanced and technically disadvantaged—in order to refine our technical prowess in the right direction with minimal reform.	ISDP
	Australia’s North and Space, August 2023. This report examines opportunities for the development of sovereign space capability in the Northern Territory, Queensland, and Western Australia. Given that those northern jurisdictions are closer to the equator, there’s a natural focus in the report on the potential opportunities offered by sovereign space launch, particularly in the Northern Territory and Queensland. However, I also consider the potential for other aspects of space besides launch, including space domain awareness, the establishment of satellite ground stations, and space industry. I explore the potential for the co-location of space industry—domestic and international—within or close to launch sites, which would result in the development of ‘space hubs’ in strategic locations in Australia...	ASPI
	Getting Regulation Right: Approaches to Improving Australia’s Cybersecurity, Published 2023. As well as having a global impact, Cybersecurity is one of the most significant issues affecting Australia’s economy and national security. On the one hand, poor cybersecurity presents a risk to the interconnected digital systems on which we increasingly rely; on the other hand, well-managed cybersecurity provides an opportunity to build trust and advantage by accelerating digital transformation. Cyber threats can originate from a diverse range of sources and require a diverse set of actions to effectively mitigate them. However, a common theme is that much better cyber risk management is needed to address this critical threat; the current operation of the free market isn’t consistently driving all of the required behaviours or actions...	ASPI
	Incels in Australia: The Ideology, the Threat, and a Way Forward, August 2023. This report explores the phenomenon of ‘incels’—involuntary celibates—and the misogynistic ideology that underpins a subset of this global community of men that has become a thriving Internet subculture. It examines how online spaces, from popular social media sites to dedicated incel forums, are providing a platform for not just the expansion of misogynistic views but gender-based violent extremism. It raises key questions regarding Australian efforts to counter misogynistic ideologies within our nation. If there’s a continuum that has sexist, but lawful, views on gender at one end and gendered hate speech at the other, at what point does misogynistic ideology tip into acts of gendered violence? What’s needed to prevent misogynistic ideologies from becoming violent? And how do we, as a society, avoid the epidemic levels of violence against women in Australia...	ASPI
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2023 #10: Consuming Digital Disinformation: How Filipinos Engage with Racist and Historically Distorted Online Political Content. Many current counter-disinformation initiatives focus on addressing the production or “supply side” of digital disinformation. Less attention tends to be paid to the consumption or the intended audiences of disinformation campaigns. A central concept in understanding people’s consumption of and vulnerability to digital disinformation is its imaginative dimension as a communication act. Key to the power of disinformation campaigns is their ability to connect to people’s shared imaginaries. Consequently, counter-disinformation initiatives also need to attend to these imaginaries...	ISEAS
	Unbundling Regimes and Structural Transformation in Malaysia, August 2023. Technological changes have significant transformative effects on economic activities. The waves of technological innovations in transport and ICT have provided opportunities for globalisation. Malaysia has levied the first unbundling - enabled by lowering of transport costs - to industrialise for five decades. The ICT-driven second unbundling is proving to be more challenging for the country’s manufacturing competitiveness. Weaknesses in the linkages within the technology-services-GVC nexus is a structural weakness that needs to be overcome. This is crucial for effective participation in the third-unbundling.	ISEAS
	Latest APEC publications: Strengthening Community Mental Health After the COVID-19 Pandemic, August 2023 Handbook on Increasing the Readiness and Resiliency of Tourism Destination Stakeholders in Managing Health Crises in APEC Economies, August 2023 APEC Regional Trends Analysis, August 2023 APEC Energy Overview 2023 Good Practices for Traceability Mechanism of Marine Debris Recycled Products in the APEC Region, August 2023 Women and Patents: Towards Gender Parity in APEC, August 2023 The APEC Women and the Economy Dashboard 2023 Managing Abandoned, Lost or Discarded Fishing Gear and Aquaculture Equipment in the APEC Region - Best Practice Guide, August 2023 Compendium for the Marking of Fishing Gear in the APEC Region, August 2023 Monitoring Pandemic Recovery Under the APEC Services Competitiveness Roadmap (ASCR), August 2023 APEC Women in Ocean Science Report, August 2023	APEC
	Latest ADB Working Paper Series: Trends and Drivers of Income Inequality in the Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam: A Decomposition Analysis, August 2023 The Impact of Tropical Cyclones on Fishing Activities in the Philippines, August 2023	ADB
	Latest ADBI Working Paper Series: Accelerating Coal Plant Retirement at Scale, August 2023 Cooling Efficiency Improvement, August 2023 Technology Transfer and Firm Competitiveness: The Case of Indonesia, August 2023 Accelerating the Net Zero Transition in Asia and the Pacific: Low-Carbon Hydrogen for Industrial Decarbonization, August 2023 Imagining an Inclusive Economy: The Role of SMEs and Digital Payment in Elevating Economic Equality, August 2023 Remittance Inflows, Institutional Quality, and Economic Growth in Nepal, August 2023 When Does Community Participation in Decision-Making Improve Outcomes? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Bangladesh, August 2023 Family Business during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Asia: Role of Government Financial Aid and Coping Strategies, August 2023	ADB
	Latest ADB Publications: Recent Central Bank Digital Currency Developments in Asia and Their Implications, August 2023 Uzbekistan’s Ecosystem for Technology Startups, August 2023 Malaysia Ageing and Retirement Survey Wave 2 (2021–2022): Survey Report, August 2023 Renewable Energy Manufacturing: Opportunities for Southeast Asia, Published 2023 ADB Green and Blue Bond Newsletter, August 2023 Rethinking Cities for Resilience and Growth in the Post-COVID-19 World, Published 2023 Strategy 2030 Education Sector Directional Guide Summary: Learning for All, Published 2023 ADB's Role in Promoting Growth, Green Recovery, and Inclusion in ASEAN, Published 2023 Multifunctionality of Rice Production Systems in Asia: A Synoptic Review, Published 2023 Mobilizing Resources through Municipal Bonds: Experiences from Developed and Developing Countries, August 2023 Enhancing Tax Revenues through Digital Transformation in Developing Asia, August 2023 Climate Finance Landscape of Asia and the Pacific, August 2023 ADB Theme Bonds for Sustainable Development, August 2023 Framework for Integrating Gender Equality and Social Inclusion in the Asian Development Bank’s South Asia Operations, August 2023 Digital Technology for Development Directional Guide Summary, August 2023 Pacific Economic Monitor, August 2023	ADB


August 2023

	US Trade Policy Options for Pacific Islands States Require Washington’s Political Commitment, July 2023. The Pacific Islands have emerged as a zone of contestation in the ongoing rivalry between China and the United States. While the US has long been the dominant military power in the region, China is raising its profile through activities like port visits, military exercises, and establishing diplomatic and security ties with regional states like Kiribati and the Solomon Islands. In 2018, Chinese leader Xi Jinping visited Papua New Guinea for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. President Biden was supposed to visit PNG in May 2023, in the first ever visit of a sitting US president to the Pacific Islands, but that trip was scuttled due to the debt ceiling fiasco in Washington...	EWC
	Sustaining Congressional Engagement with Southeast Asia, June 2023. As a representative institution whose members can outlast presidential administrations, Congress plays a vital role in sustaining long-term US foreign policy commitments. The perception of long-term commitment is particularly important in Southeast Asia, where most states seek to maximize their strategic autonomy by balancing relations among great powers. Thus, expectations about the future behavior of great powers can significantly affect foreign policy choices. Congress speaks through the exercise of its formal powers but also in more subtle ways. Congressional actions on foreign relations operate along three channels. The first channel is support for policies initiated by the executive branch, e.g., passing appropriations, making requested statutory changes, or, at the very least, not obstructing what an administration seeks to do...	EWC
	Multiculturalism, Identity and Influence Project 2020–2023 Summary, July 2023. The Lowy Institute’s Multiculturalism, Identity and Influence Project (2020–2023), funded by the Department of Home Affairs, comprised three nationally representative surveys of the Australian population of Chinese heritage and three Lowy Institute Analysis papers. A key aim of the Project was to investigate the sentiments of Chinese-Australian communities in the context of growing tensions in bilateral ties between China and Australia. The cornerstone of the Project was the annual Being Chinese in Australia: Public Opinion in Chinese Communities survey report — with all three editions housed on a dedicated online platform. The three surveys conducted from 2020–2022 provide the most comprehensive study on public record of the perspectives of more than five per cent of the Australian population...	Lowy
	De-risking Authoritarian AI - A Balanced Approach to Protecting Our Digital Ecosystems, July 2023. Artificial intelligence (AI)–enabled systems make many invisible decisions affecting our health, safety and wealth. They shape what we see, think, feel and choose, they calculate our access to financial benefits as well as our transgressions, and now they can generate complex text, images and code just as a human can, but much faster. So it’s unsurprising that moves are afoot across democracies to regulate AI’s impact on our individual rights and economic security, notably in the European Union (EU). But, if we’re wary about AI, we should be even more circumspect about AI-enabled products and services from authoritarian countries that share neither our values nor our interests. And, for the foreseeable future, that means the People’s Republic of China (PRC)...	ASPI
	Informing Australia’s Next Independent Intelligence Review: Learning From the Past, June 2023. The Australian Government commissions a review of its intelligence community every five to seven years. With July 2023 marking six years since release of the last review’s report and, with funding already allocated in this year’s federal budget, the next one is likely to commence shortly. The best starting place for the forthcoming review is the work that precedes it, so reflection on 2017’s Independent Intelligence Review proves valuable. This report, Informing Australia’s next independent intelligence review, reflects on the experiences of the 2017 review and the implementation of its recommendations, and draws lessons to inform the terms of reference, approach and suggested focus of the next review...	ASPI
	China in Eurasia: Revisiting BRI Amidst the Russia-Ukraine Crisis, July 2023. This paper discusses China’s trade and connectivity plans under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in the Eurasian region and the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Chinese plans. The world order is once again in flux with the rather unpredictable geopolitical moves of Russia, Europe, the U.S., and the rest of the world, leading to a dynamic set-up for nations to evolve their foreign and regional political choices. Most significant of this has been the Russian invasion of Ukraine which has profoundly reconfigured global geo-economics. Geo-economics is the intersection of the global economy and geography that impacts the world in more than one way. One of the examples of this is also the infrastructure-based connectivity initiatives including China’s BRI. The economic impact of the Russia-Ukraine crisis is making analysts question the stability of BRI.	ISDP
	AUKUS, Advanced Capabilities and Defense Integration in the Indo-Pacific, July 2023. Nearly two years on from the inception of AUKUS in September 2021, the contours of this strategic partnership have begun to take a more concrete shape. Specifically, the roadmap for Pillar I, which aims to equip Australia with conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines (SSN) and develop a new class of SSN, has been released, and there have been further discussions on Pillar II, advanced capabilities. While both pillars support the overarching objective of AUKUS, which is to integrate the defense industrial bases of Australia, the UK, and the U.S., Pillar II in particular reveals its deeper motivation in competing for global pre-eminence in emerging technology. This issue brief examines the aims and strategic rationale of AUKUS, focusing on its pursuit of collective deterrence vis-à-vis China. In doing so, it evaluates some of the opportunities and challenges AUKUS faces moving forward, paying attention to its attempt to develop and equip partners with leading-edge military technologies under a minilateral institutional arrangement.	ISDP
	EU-Japan-Taiwan Cooperation: Building a Blue Supply Chain, July 2023. The COVID-19 pandemic, the escalating trade war between the United States and China, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have exposed vulnerabilities and weaknesses in the global China-centric economic supply chain as democratic states have experienced significant economic pressures stemming from these external geopolitical occurrences. In this context, democratic states are increasingly falling victim to Chinese economic coercion and trade weaponization as the geopolitical stakes increase. This issue brief discusses the need to reduce dependence on the China-centric global supply chain and explores avenues and challenges that key democratic stakeholders like the EU, Japan, and Taiwan must acknowledge and consider to build a blue supply chain as an alternative to the authoritarian-centered red supply chain.	ISDP
	South Asia’s Dual Dilemma: Climate Impacts Heighten Conflict Vulnerability, July 2023. South Asia has been confronted with a conflictual crisis for decades now. The arch of vulnerability that this region faces ascends from its long-rooted history of colonialism that left it with a traumatic past and is lingering to date. The conflicts created at that juncture and fortified over time have made this region vulnerable to any internal or external influence. The already declined state of South Asia’s security landscape has been further compromised under the looming climate emergency. With rising temperatures, melting glaciers, and depleting natural resources compounded by South Asia’s internal instability and external intimidations, the region is subject to a mounting dual dilemma. This issue brief looks into two areas of heightened vulnerability for the region—climate-induced migration coincided with conflict escalation and development-induced migration along with the rising energy crises that could become a potential hotspot for conflict in the region.	ISDP
	Japan’s Indo-Pacific Strategy: The Link with Iran, July 2023. Japan’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy” is linked to the Persian Gulf region. Energy resources, concerns about China’s influence on the region’s energy and transit corridors, and the suitable consumption market have made this region and Iran have a special place in Japan’s Indo-Pacific policy. This issue brief discusses how Iran plays an important role by creating a delicate balance and maintaining a suitable distance from China. In addition to providing the energy needed by Japan and creating investment opportunities in the oil, gas and petrochemical industries and ports, Iran can obtain its technological needs from Japan and diversify its corridor routes by creating the North-South Corridor and connecting India to Central Asia and Europe as well. Such a move would ensure that India does not lag behind in the competition with China’s corridors; a move that is also welcomed by Tokyo.	ISDP
	China’s Pursuit of Food and Energy Security in the Indian Ocean: Consequences for India’s Development, June 2023. China and India are still predominantly rising powers. They are strongly inclined to achieve food and energy security, two priority areas for any nation with a vast population. The possibility of geopolitical flare-ups has been highlighted by China’s ruthless pursuit of all kinds of resources. China’s engagement in the Indian Ocean is not just to have a strong foothold in the region but also to fulfil its domestic demands for energy, food, raw materials, minerals, crude oil, and other essential commodities. This issue brief discusses whether a relentless pursuit of food and energy security in the Indian Ocean and Indo-Pacific regions by China will be a cause of concern for New Delhi and how it poses a strategic hindrance to the national and maritime security of India.	ISDP
	Latest ADB Publications: Asian Development Outlook (ADO) July 2023: Robust Growth with Moderating Inflation Taxation and Gender in Asia and the Pacific: A Review of Gender Equality Provisions in Fiscal Legal Frameworks, July 2023 Investments in Childcare for Gender Equality in Asia and the Pacific, Published 2023 Building Gaobeidian: Developing the Environmental Infrastructure of Modern Beijing, July 2023 ASEAN+3 Bond Market Forum Brief No. 3—Fundamentals of Disclosure in the Bond Market, July 2023 Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage Game Changers in Asia and the Pacific: 2022 Compendium of Technologies and Enablers, Published 2023 Cost–Benefit Analysis of Sewered and Non-Sewered Sanitation Interventions in Mahalaxmi Municipality, Nepal. July 2023 Global Climate Challenges, Innovative Finance, and Green Central Banking, July 2023 Carbon Pricing and Fossil Fuel Subsidy Rationalization Tool Kit, July 2023 Quality of Life Assessment in Urban Development and Transport Policymaking, July 2023 Infrastructure Spillover Impacts in Developing Asia, July 2023 Strategy 2030 Energy Sector Directional Guide Summary: Inclusive, Just, and Affordable Low-Carbon Transition in Asia and the Pacific, July 2023 Ecological Protection in the People’s Republic of China: Pilot Case Studies on Comprehensive Eco-Compensation, Poverty Alleviation, and Green Development, June 2023	ADB
	Latest ADBI Working Paper Series: History, Status, and Future Challenges of Hydrogen Energy in the Transportation Sector, July 2023 Technology Foresight for Hydrogen Society Transition in Japan: Approach of GTAP-E-Power Model, July 2023 Indonesia’s Fiscal Capacity and Burden-Sharing Scheme: A New Insight from Handling COVID-19, July 2023 How Can Japan Help Create a Sustainable Hydrogen Society in Asia? July 2023 Renewable Energy Investments and Feed-in Tariffs: Firm-Level Evidence from Southeast Asia, July 2023 Can Digital Finance Promote Low-Carbon Transition? Evidence from the People’s Republic of China, July 2023	ADB
	Latest ADB Working Paper Series: Does Adolescence Anemia Persist Over a Women’s Life Cycle? Evidence from the Indonesian Family Life Survey, July 2023 The Impact of an Online Job Fair: Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh, July 2023 Local Currency Bond Market Development and Currency Stability amid Market Turmoil, July 2023	ADB
	Latest APEC publications: Digital Transformation to Generate New Business Opportunities, Opening to New Markets in the MSMES and Gender Focused Cooperatives, in Response to the Economic Crisis Caused by COVID-19, July 2023 Building Laboratory Capabilities to Assure Water Quality in Asia-Pacific Economies, July 2023 APEC Conference on Digital Health Innovation – Covid-19 Response by Health Information Utilization, July 2023 Best Practices Guideline: Risk-informed Decision Making and SMEs Capacity Building, July 2023 Workshop Report on Risk-smart Business for SMEs in the Post COVID-19, July 2023 Project Report of Integrative Medicine (IM) and COVID-19 Care, July 2023 Workshop Summary Report – APEC Workshop on Promoting Small Farmers’ Integration into Global Value Chains (GVCs), July 2023 Competition Policy and Sustainable Development, July 2023 Summary Report - APEC Workshop on SME's Participation in the Global Value Chains During and Post COVID-19 Pandemic, July 2023 Patent Linkage System for Intellectual Property Rights and Public Health Harmonisation, July 2023 A Study on the Harmonization of the IP Financial System, July 2023 Project Report: Report and Workshop on Capacity Building to Improve Economic Reactivation in Sustainable Aquaculture, July 2023 Report on the Environmental Goods Trade Policy Dialogue, July 2023 Translating Services Domestic Regulation Initiatives into Practice: Benefits and Experiences Implementing Services Domestic Regulation Disciplines - At A Glance, June 2023	APEC


July 2023

	AUKUS and Critical Minerals: Hedging Beijing’s Pervasive, Clever and Coordinated Statecraft, June 2023. AUKUS has a heavy focus on R&D of military capabilities. A number of departments, including defence, foreign affairs and prime ministerial equivalents are engaged. The science and technology to deliver those capabilities must resolve issues of insecure supply chains. Currently, supply chains for processed critical minerals and their resulting materials aren’t specifically included. Yet all AUKUS capabilities, and the rules-based order that they uphold, depend heavily on critical minerals. China eclipses not only AUKUS for processing those minerals into usable forms, but the rest of the world combined. Without critical minerals, states are open to economic coercion in various technological industries, and defence manufacturing is particularly exposed to unnecessary supply-chain challenges...	ASPI
	North of 26 Degrees South and the Security of Australia: Views From the Strategist, Volume 7, June 2023. The Northern Australia Strategic Policy Centre’s latest report, North of 26 degrees south and the security of Australia: views from The Strategist, Volume 7, is a series of articles published in The Strategist over the last six months. It builds on previous volumes by identifying critical intersections of national security, nation-building, resilience and Australia’s north. This issue, like previous volumes, includes a wide range of articles sourced from a diverse pool of expert contributors writing on topics as varied as critical minerals, rare earth, equatorial space launch, agriculture, advanced manufacturing, fuel and water security, and defence force posturing. Importantly, it addresses the Defence Strategic from a northern Australian perspective. It also features a foreword by the Honourable Madeleine King MP, Minister for Northern Australia...	ASPI
	The Big Squeeze. ASPI Defence Budget Brief 2023–2024, May 2023. This is a very different year for the defence budget. We are in a time of significant change and upheaval. Uncertainty is rife, but some fundamentals can help in working through uncertainty, especially in the world of defence policy, planning, capability programming and budget. The order of those words is important. Defence budgets are not arbitrary. Capability requirements must drive budgets. It doesn’t mean that the budget is unlimited but it demands that governments consider proposals for what is required and assess what can be afforded. If budgets drive capability, it risks the true capability needs not being put to government which results in failure to ask of government what they are elected to do – make decisions based on all available information...	ASPI
	Impactful Mateship: Strengthening the US–Australia Defence Relationship Through Enhanced Mutual Understanding, May 2023. AUKUS, and the Australian Government’s release of the 2023 report of the Defence Strategic Review (DSR), reinforce to Canberra and Washington DC that there’s an urgent need to continue strengthening the US–Australia alliance. Those efforts underpin allied cooperation within the Indo-Pacific, which is an increasingly complex security environment. This report highlights 9 opportunities for both US and Australian defence decision-makers at a vital time in the relationship as it develops in complexity and builds towards the ambitions of AUKUS over the coming decade. A series of ‘quick wins’ for the US DoD are recommended, including arranging more training for inbound DoD personnel and conducting allied-centric training for relevant US-based action officers and planners at US headquarters...	ASPI
	Smooth Sailing? Australia, New Zealand and the United States Partnering in–and With–the Pacific Islands, May 2023. Australia, New Zealand and the United States should help create an ASEAN-style forum for Pacific island nations to discuss security and manage geopolitical challenges. The call for a dialogue, modelled on the ASEAN regional forum, is one of several recommendations to improve security partnerships and coordination in the region, reducing the risk that the three countries trip over one another and lose sight of the Pacific’s own priorities as they deepen their Pacific ties out of strategic necessity amid China’s growing interest. While focussing on those three countries, this report stresses that wider partnerships should be considered, including with France, India, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and European Union...	ASPI
	Southeast Asia Aid Map - Key Findings Report, June 2023. Official development finance plays an important role in financing Southeast Asia’s development, equivalent to around 10% of total government development spending in the region. China is Southeast Asia’s single largest development partner and leads infrastructure financing. Yet, implementation problems have seen the scale of China’s financing decline in recent years. Traditional development partners collectively still dominate development financing in Southeast Asia at 80% of the total. The multilateral development banks lead the way, followed by Japan, Europe, and South Korea. The United States and Australia are mid-sized players. India and the Middle East have become notable sources of non-traditional development finance, with the Islamic Development Bank playing an important role. Climate development finance is increasing, but Southeast Asia will need more support if it is to transition towards resilient, low-carbon development. Intraregional development cooperation is growing, but only makes up a small part of development finance in Southeast Asia.	Lowy
	Chips, Subsidies, Security, and Great Power Competition, May 2023. Since 2008, government subsidies to industry have sharply increased in the European Union, China, and the United States, with particularly generous subsidies directed to the semiconductor industry. Rising subsidies in the big world economies and the entanglement of national security and commercial motives pose difficult policy issues for countries such as Australia, which cannot match the subsidies provided by the great powers. US–China competition over advanced semiconductors is an awkward instance of such entanglement of national security and commerce, of subsidies and export denials. Australia needs to find its own path between adhering to US views on controlling the sale of strictly military products and technologies, while resisting the inevitable pressure from the United States to extend controls on new commercial products and technologies.	Lowy
	Digital Threats to Democracy Dialogue Summary Report, June 2023. The Lowy Institute convened the Digital Threats to Democracy (DTD) Dialogue on 12 October 2022. This Dialogue was funded by the New South Wales Department of Premier in Cabinet and was a day-long, closed-door session that brought together a distinguished group of diverse subject matter experts, government officials and civil society stakeholders to examine intersecting digital challenges to democracy. The aim of the Dialogue was to foster connections across subject matter and policy areas in order to spark new ideas and more coordinated approaches to meet these challenges. To foster frank discussion, the session was conducted under Chatham House rules. Therefore the comments and recommendations made during the Dialogue and reflected in this report are not attributed. Additionally, the summary of the Dialogue and recommendations for future consideration should not be taken as endorsed or agreed upon by all Dialogue participants but rather are a reflection of the ideas and topics discussed...	Lowy
	Building the Australia-PNG Digital Ecosystem, June 2023. The Covid-19 pandemic was a catalyst for increased digital connectivity globally. In the Pacific, digital transformations are gaining momentum. From a very low base, internet access and mobile phone use is increasing at a steady pace, along with government digital transformation projects spanning health, education, and financial data. There is increasing commercial activity online. Social media is playing a greater role in elections and in keeping people informed of international developments. Papua New Guinea (PNG) has a small, but rapidly growing digital footprint, with new mobile phone, internet, and social media users joining the digital realm every year. The PNG government has a Digital Transformation Policy, but it is stillstruggling to meet the digital infrastructure access needs and expectations of an increasingly digitally savvy youth. The country’s digital development is lagging behind that of other Pacific countries...	Lowy
	What the Compact Impact Fairness Act Means for Compact Host Governments and Migrants, June 2023. The Biden-Harris Administration’s 2024 Department of the Interior (DOI) budget proposal supports passing the Compact Impact Fairness Act (CIFA). CIFA would restore federal benefits to migrants from three Pacific countries: Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), and the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). Support for CIFA is a welcome development for Compacts of Free Association (COFA) migrants and the US states and territories that host them. Yet, the budget proposal’s omission of funding support for host governments and uncertainty on implementation and prioritization for COFA migrants present acute issues that may linger for years ahead...	EWC
	China’s 5G Mobile Technology in Asia: US Security Concerns and Regional Economic Priorities, May 2023. Seeing Chinese fifth generation, or “5G,” mobile communications technology as a potential security threat, the US government has been discouraging other countries from using Chinese 5G equipment despite its global popularity. Understanding this issue requires an explanation of American security concerns related to Chinese 5G technology and a review of the steps the US government has taken to ban Chinese equipment from US communications networks. The responses of several Asian countries to American calls for a prohibition against Chinese 5G equipment are varied. While close US allies generally follow the American call to avoid incorporating Chinese communications equipment, some less developed Asian nations have put economic considerations above security concerns...	EWC
	Washington Declaration: Beyond Korea, What it Means for India? June 2023. In April 2023, South Korea and the United States released the Washington Declaration to reiterate and upgrade their treaty alliance. In outlining a joint nuclear deterrence strategy, the Declaration reaffirmed that South Korea would not pursue independent nuclear capabilities, and instead continue to rely on the alliance-based approach. This paper considers the strategic impact of the Washington Declaration beyond the U.S.-ROK nexus. Highlighting the importance of the agreement on security and stability in the broader Indo-Pacific region, the paper focuses on India’s stake in the new development. In particular, the paper emphasizes that despite its stated focus on the North Korean nuclear threat, the Washington Declaration in fact considers the Chinese and Russian threats in the region...	ISDP
	A Possible Strategy for the Defense of Taiwan, June 2023. This issue brief examines the possibility of a People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) offensive to capture the island of Taiwan from a military perspective. It analyzes the military geography, the threat perception, and the capability of the PLA to launch an expeditionary force across the Taiwan Straits. It looks at the military capabilities of the ROC Defense Forces and suggests a possible military strategy for Taiwan to defend itself from a PLA attack. All this without the direct intervention of the U.S. and her allies in support of the ROC. It concludes that the planning, conduct, and execution of an expeditionary attack, given the present array of forces and indirect support from the U.S. and allies, will not be without significant costs to China...	ISDP
	Drivers of U.S.-China Strategic Competition: Understanding the Chinese Perspective, June 2023. The relationship between the United States and China is one of the world’s most important and mutually beneficial bilateral relationships. Nonetheless, it is also complex and contentious, with both countries vying for geopolitical influence and economic dominance. This brief examines drivers of U.S.-China strategic competition from the perspective of Beijing incorporating the prism of Marxist-Leninist ideology, domestic politics in the U.S., China’s needed alignment with Russia, nationalism, technological advancements such as AI, the role of regional players such as ASEAN, Japan, and the E.U., and Comprehensive National Power (CNP). Understanding these analytical lens contributes to a deeper comprehension of China’s security anxieties and worldview that may provide insight to enhance engagement, resilience, and deterrence in bilateral relations with China.	ISDP
	Awaiting a Pivotal Partnership? The Case of India and South Korea, June 2023. The shift toward showcasing South Korea as a proactive stakeholder in the global arena—beyond its foreign policy limitations that have thus far centered on Northeast Asian security—has unlocked the potential for wider regional engagement and the growth of ‘like-minded’ pivotal states with global ambitions such as Australia, India, France, Germany, and Japan. In this great transition phase in the global order, which is facing the ill-effects of a widening ideological divide, India has emerged as one of the most prominent states with a burgeoning global profile and hence a natural partner for the ROK. The new shift has fueled hopes of greater strategic autonomy in the ROK’s decision-making and greater strategic clarity as a pivotal state in the new geopolitical environment...	ISDP
	Climate Security in the Indo-Pacific: Priorities and Challenges, May 2023. The climate vulnerabilities of the Indo-Pacific region have grown immensely with grave implications for regional, national, human, and ecological security. Climate action has been prioritized by most countries, including by integrating it into their national security strategies and reiterating the need for cooperation among the countries. Yet there are several impediments to effective collaborative climate action such as the lack of climate finance and geopolitical tensions. Against this backdrop, this issue brief locates climate security within the Indo-Pacific strategies of countries in the region (Australia, New Zealand, the U.S., India, Japan, and South Korea) as well as regional organizations (ASEAN and the Pacific Islands Forum or PIF) besides the European Union (EU), an extra-regional player, and the Quad...	ISDP
	The Dalai Lama’s Succession: Strategic Realities of the Tibet Question, May 2023. The 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso remains one of the most recognized and beloved spiritual leaders of contemporary times. By China, he is viewed in unflattering terms, ranging from being termed a “splittist” to a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”. The question over the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation reflects the larger polemic ideological and political debates about the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) versus the Communist Party of China (CPC), religious freedom versus materialism, the sovereignty of Tibet versus China’s occupation of it, and history itself. The CPC has put strategies in place to manage the post-Dalai era: From temple/monastry management rules and education policy changes to restrictions on travel by Tibetans, the Party’s strategies have laid the foundation for preparations to mitigate uncertainties associated with the succession process...	ISDP
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2023 #9: Bruneian Youths on Social Media: Key Trends and Challenges. Over the last decade, Brunei Darussalam has been experiencing a huge increase in Internet penetration and social media usage. As of January 2023, these stand at 98.1 per cent and 94.4 per cent, respectively. Instagram remains the platform with the potential to reach citizens by advertisements (60 per cent), followed by Facebook (57.6 per cent) and Twitter (21.9 per cent) (Kemp 2023). While indicating society’s high reliance on social media platforms for daily interactions and engagements, these statistics also point to these platforms being alternative sites for social engagements. With the proliferation of affordable mobile technology, mobile and fixed broadband availability, and high digital literacy, social media such as Instagram, Twitter and TikTok have become sites where young people share their everyday life experiences and their socio-cultural and religious practices, and create new discourses that effectively shape the nation’s socio-cultural, religious and political landscapes...	ISEAS
	Latest APEC publications: Microplastics in Coastal Aquaculture Systems: Development of Regulatory Frameworks, Practices and Mitigation Efforts in APEC Economies, June 2023 Promoting Safety for Dangerous Goods Transportation in APEC Region, June 2023 Green Synergy Solutions for Sustainable Community on Agriculture Residue-Based Energy and Circular Economy, June 2023 Final Report of the Leverage Digital Twin Technology to Enhance Supply Chain Productivity for Resilient Economy Project, June 2023 Workshop Summary Report – APEC Workshop on Promoting “One Village One Product” (OVOP) through E-commerce, June 2023	APEC
	Latest ADB Working Paper Series: Gender and the Total Work of Older Workers in Asia, June 2023 Asia’s Low-Carbon Transition: Opportunities and Challenges for Trade, June 2023 Social Benefits of Clean Energy: Evidence from Bangladesh, June 2023	ADB
	Latest ADBI Working Paper Series: Resilience of Global Supply Chain: Facts and Implications, June 2023 Gender-Inclusive Development through Fintech: Studying Gender-Based Digital Financial Inclusion in a Cross-Economy Setting, June 2023 Public Wash Programs, Long-Run Child Development, and Intergenerational Mobility: New Evidence from Rural People’s Republic of China, June 2023 Investment in Innovation: Global Trends, Collaboration, and the Environment, June 2023 Family Size and Domestic Violence in a High-Fertility Society, June 2023 Leveraging School Principals to Address Learning Loss in Indonesia through Group and Individual Targeting, June 2023 Does Biomass Fuel Use for Cooking Affect Early Childhood Development? A Case Study of Kiribati, June 2023 Sustainable Financing Strategies for SMEs: Two Alternative Models, June 2023 Maternal Education and Children’s Well-Being: Evidence from Four Pacific Countries, June 2023	ADB
	Latest ADB Publications: Green Finance for Asian State-Owned Enterprises: An Opportunity to Accelerate Green Transition, June 2023 Gateway Framework: A Governance Approach for Infrastructure Investment Sustainability, June 2023 Labor Migration in Asia: Changing Profiles and Processes, June 2023 Central and West Asia Health Sector Approach 2025, June 2023 Addressing Menstrual Health in Urban, Water, and Sanitation Interventions in the Pacific: Practitioner Guide, June 2023 Developing Innovative Transport Systems for New Cities: Best Practices for Cities Embracing Emerging Mobility Trends and Innovations, June 2023 A Closer Look at Causes of Youth Unemployment in the People’s Republic of China, June 2023 Connecting Market Infrastructures in ASEAN+3: The Project Tridecagon Proof of Concept, June 2023 Asia Bond Monitor, June 2023 Resettling Urban Populations: Learning from the Graduation Approach in India, June 2023 Indonesia’s Technology Startups: Voices from the Ecosystems, June 2023 Toward a Common and Comparable Framework for Measuring the Digital Economy, June 2023 Critical Issues for Fiscal Reform in the People’s Republic of China Part 2: Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations and Debt Management, June 2023 Bangladesh Economic Corridor Development Highlights, June 2023	ADB


June 2023

	The Ukraine Effect: Demise or Rebirth of the Global Order? May 2023. Viewed from Western capitals, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is the most consequential event in world affairs since the fall of the Soviet Union in December 1991. On its outcome hang the survival of Ukraine as a sovereign state, the future of European security, the credibility of the West, and the preservation of the rules-based international order. But for much of the world, the Ukraine conflict does not portend the “epochal tectonic shift” described by Chancellor Scholz. It is not an elemental struggle between good and evil, but an unwelcome distraction that diverts attention from more pressing priorities, such as climate change, food insecurity, debt relief, and public health. Few non-Western leaders believe the fate of international order hinges on who wins and loses the war, even as they resent the instability this conflict has caused...	Lowy
	Countering Chinese Economic Coercion: Enhanced Cooperation Between Australia and Europe, May 2023. China’s increasingly assertive, and at times belligerent, geopolitical positioning over the past decade has led many to conclude that challenging the economic, technological, and military superiority of the United States is now a major objective of the Chinese Communist Party under President Xi Jinping’s leadership. On a number of issues, notably the South China Sea and Taiwan, China has adopted a highly aggressive approach to projecting its interests. And by entering into its recent “no limits” partnership with Russia, China appears increasingly confident in aligning itself politically against the United States and the West...	Lowy
	Gaming Public Opinion, April 2023. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) embrace of large-scale online influence operations and spreading of disinformation on Western social-media platforms has escalated since the first major attribution from Silicon Valley companies in 2019. While Chinese public diplomacy may have shifted to a softer tone in 2023 after many years of wolf-warrior online rhetoric, the Chinese Government continues to conduct global covert cyber-enabled influence operations. Those operations are now more frequent, increasingly sophisticated and increasingly effective in supporting the CCP’s strategic goals. They focus on disrupting the domestic, foreign, security and defence policies of foreign countries, and most of all they target democracies...	ASPI
	Korea Looks to Europe: Its Growing Military-Strategic Cooperation with NATO, May 2023. Korea is looking to Europe in the military-strategic dimension. It wants to boost ties with NATO even as strengthening relations with the AP4 (four Asia-Pacific partners) forms an important aspect of the NATO 2030 agenda. Korea has proactively joined this diplomatic effort, a foreign policy initiative that is unprecedentedly bold for Korea, which had been passively stuck in Northeast Asia. This series of political actions already bring Korea multiple consequences—both positive and negative—which will only increase in number and magnitude. This issue brief examines the Korean perspective and compulsion for strengthening ties with NATO as the world experiences a convergence of regions (Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic) and security dimensions (military, economy, technology, political regime) driven by the U.S., China, and other significant powers. Against this backdrop, Korea needs NATO much more than before given the four key factors—the U.S. push, the need for capable partners, commercial opportunity, and nuclear tripwire. And most likely vice versa.	ISDP
	The Future of the ADMM-Plus in the Indo-Pacific, May 2023. Since its establishment, the ADMM-Plus has evolved into a valuable component of the regional security architecture. It facilitates not only dialogue among the region’s defense ministers and officials, but also practical initiatives involving the regional militaries to address transnational security concerns. It bears noting that the ADMM-Plus emerged and progressed during a time when circumstances were more conducive for multilateralism in the Indo-Pacific. These circumstances are now changing, with expected implications for regional multilateralism including the ASEAN-led groupings. Looking ahead, whether the ADMM-Plus would continue to retain its relevance in the regional security architecture would arguably depend on the development of three overlapping factors: (i) intra-ASEAN dynamics and the ADMM’s leadership; (ii) major power rivalry and the existence of competing options for multilateralism; and (iii) the attitudes towards practical cooperation under the ADMM-Plus framework. This brief reviews the evolution of the ADMM-Plus as a regional mechanism.	ISDP
	International Journal of Korean Studies, Volume XXIV, Number 1, 2022 China’s Role in Korean Security Issues North Korea’s Plan for Unification by Federation: What it Really Means Getting North Korean Human Rights Right, Now and for the Future Tying Human Rights to U.S.-DPRK-ROK Negotiations Sweden’s Peacekeeping Contributions through the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission Korean Newspapers, Korean Sovereignty over Dokdo and Ulleungdo, and Early Japanese Intrusions	IJKS
	Satisfaction with Government's Handling of COVID-19 in Singapore, April 2023. This paper reviews Singaporeans’ satisfaction with the government’s COVID-19 pandemic management. It also examines perceptions of Singapore’s pandemic response in comparison with other countries or regions, and the importance of government satisfaction in predicting perceptions of Singapore’s pandemic response. Around 71 per cent felt that the restrictions in Singapore were adequate to deal with the pandemic, while 19 per cent felt that there could have been more restrictions implemented and 10 per cent felt that there could have been fewer restrictions implemented...	IPS
	Asian Development Review, Vol. 40, No. 1, March 2023 (Full Report): Studies using data from Thailand explore how income uncertainty and borrowing constraints affect children’s education in rural areas and look at how policies have influenced the pace of economic development. Among other topics explored are the factors that affect decisions by women in Bangladesh to engage in home-based work, and the impacts of formal registration on firms in Cambodia. The Economics of Investing in COVID-19 Vaccines: Implications for the Asian Development Bank The Finance–Growth Nexus in Asia: A Meta-Analytic Approach Impact of Population Aging on Asia’s Future Economic Growth, 2021–2050 Home-Based Work Decisions among Bangladeshi Women Can Money Buy Happiness? Income and Multidimensional Life Satisfaction in Brunei Darussalam Formal Registration and Informal Firms in Cambodia Spatial Heterogeneity in the Severity of COVID-19 Pandemic in India The Structural Transformation of Thailand: The Role of Policy Distortion Income Shocks, Borrowing Constraints, and Household Child Schooling: Evidence from Rural Thailand	ADB
	Latest ADB Working Paper Series: Do Women Receive Worse Financial Advice? An Audit Study in Hong Kong, China, June 2023 Global Divergence in the De-routinization of Jobs, May 2023 Access to Pensions, Old-Age Support, and Child Investment in the People’s Republic of China, May 2023 Sectoral Debt Capacity and Business Cycles: Developing Asia and the World Economy, May 2023	ADB
	Latest ADBI Working Paper Series: Building Supply Chain Resilience with Digitalization, May 2023 Linguistic Diversity, School Language of Instruction Policy, and Learning Outcomes across Asia and the Pacific, May 2023 Passive Solutions to Reduce the Need for Cooling in Buildings, May 2023 When Policy Responses Make Things Worse: The Case of Export Restrictions on Agricultural Products, May 2023 Fintech and Inclusive Growth: Evidence from 25 Asian Developing Countries, May 2023 Compulsory Kindergarten Education and Early-Teenage Literacy in the Philippines, May 2023 The Surprising Developments of Digital Supply Chains to Raise Resilience in the Face of Disruptions, May 2023 Global Value Chains in the Pacific Island Countries: Patterns and Structure, May 2023 Bespoke Supply Chain Resilience Facilitated by Dedicated and Shared Resources, May 2023 History of Bank of Japan’s More Than Two Decades of Unconventional Monetary Easing with Special Emphasis on the Frameworks Pursued in the Last 10 Years, May 2023 Exchange Rate Pass-Through in Emerging Asia and Exposure to External Shocks, May 2023 Trade Facilitation and Global Value Chains in a Post-Pandemic World, May 2023 Facilitating International Adaptation Finance Flows from Private Sources, May 2023 Gender Differences in Preferences for Non-Pecuniary Benefits in the Labor Market: Experimental Evidence from an Online Freelancing Platform, May 2023 Examining US Monetary Spillover to Indonesian Local Currency Government Bonds in Volatile Periods, May 2023	ADB
	Latest ADB Publications: Disaster Recovery Planning: Explanatory Note and Case Study, June 2023 Green and Resilient Affordable Housing Sector Project, May 2023 The Philippines’ Ecosystem for Technology Startups, May 2023 Narrowing the Development Gap: Follow-Up Monitor of the ASEAN Framework for Equitable Economic Development, May 2023 Enhancing Tax Transparency in Asia and the Pacific, May 2023 Managing Fintech Risks: Policy and Regulatory Implications, May 2023 Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Pacific Region: A Comprehensive Analysis of Existing Research and Data, May 2023 Assessing the Maturity of National Road Safety Management Systems, May 2023 Harnessing the Fourth Industrial Revolution through Skills Development in High-Growth Industries in Central and West Asia—Azerbaijan, May 2023 Harnessing the Fourth Industrial Revolution through Skills Development in High-Growth Industries in Central and West Asia—Uzbekistan, May 2023 Harnessing the Fourth Industrial Revolution through Skills Development in High-Growth Industries in Central and West Asia—Insights from Azerbaijan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan, May 2023 Harnessing the Fourth Industrial Revolution through Skills Development in High-Growth Industries in Central and West Asia—Pakistan, May 2023 Transforming Bangladesh’s Participation in Trade and Global Value Chains, May 2023 Landscape Study on Southeast Asia’s Aviation Industry: COVID-19 Impact and Post-Pandemic Strategy, May 2023 Civil Society Brief: India, May 2023 2 Decades of Poverty Reduction and Partnership: The Story of the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction 2000–2021 Reinvigorating Financing Approaches for Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure in ASEAN+3, May 2023	ADB
	Latest APEC publications: PSU Annual Report 2022, May 2023 Study on Non-Tariff Measures Affecting Trade in Goods Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions, May 2023 APEC Regional Trends Analysis, May 2023 Project Report of Demonstration and Promotion of Energy Resilience Tool based on Solar-Powered Emergency Shelter Solutions (SPESS) for Natural Disaster in APEC, May 2023 Clean Energy Start-Ups Forum: Advancing Market Reach and Business Growth, May 2023 APEC Workshop on the Application of Electronic Veterinary and Phytosanitary Certificate, May 2023 Study on Strategy to Promote the Utilization of the APEC Trade Repository, May 2023 Policy Paths toward Low-emission Multimodal Transportation in APEC, May 2023 Translating Services Domestic Regulation Initiatives Into Practice: Benefits and Experiences Implementing Services Domestic Regulation Disciplines, May 2023 The APEC Workshop on Best Practices Sharing of Water-Conservation Standards and Evaluation on Their Benefits, May 2023 Research Outcomes: Summary of Research Projects 2022 Achieving Harmonization of a Biometric ID Management Framework across APEC Economies: Practical Guidebook and Roadmap, May 2023 Updated Summary Report of APEC Economies’ Digital Policy Measures to Combat COVID-19, May 2023 Recovering from COVID-19: Successful Practices among APEC Economies on the Use of IP as a Collective Tool to Foster and Promote Economic Development and Recovery of Vulnerable Populations and MSMEs, May 2023 Lessons Learned on Resiliency and Uptake of Variable Energy Resources from Islanded Grids that support APEC Clean Energy Goals, May 2023 Results of the Survey for the status of Aquaculture in APEC Economies, May 2023	APEC


May 2023

	2023 Being Chinese in Australia Poll. More than 1.4 million people of Chinese heritage live in Australia today. Their experiences are as diverse as their views. Many were born in Australia, with lineages that span generations of Australian history. Others have migrated more recently from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. Chinese-Australian communities have flourished and contributed to many aspects of Australian life. The Lowy Institute’s Multiculturalism, Identity and Influence Project conducted its third nationally representative poll of Chinese-Australians at the end of 2022...	Lowy
	Asia Power Snapshot: China and the United States in Southeast Asia, April 2023. In the last five years, China has increased the overall margin of its influence compared to the United States in Southeast Asia. In 2018, China led the United States 52–48 for influence in the region. In 2022, this lead increased to 54–46. Applying a new methodology to the data collected by the Lowy Institute for the Asia Power Index between 2018 and 2022, this report yields an in-depth analysis of the relative influence of the two countries in Southeast Asia.[1] These patterns of influence form part of the broad context in which Southeast Asian countries make their strategic choices...	Lowy
	Countering Chinese Economic Coercion: Enhanced Cooperation Between Australia and Europe, April 2023. China’s increasingly assertive, and at times belligerent, geopolitical positioning over the past decade has led many to conclude that challenging the economic, technological, and military superiority of the United States is now a major objective of the Chinese Communist Party under President Xi Jinping’s leadership. [1] On a number of issues, notably the South China Sea and Taiwan, China has adopted a highly aggressive approach to projecting its interests. And by entering into its recent “no limits” partnership with Russia, China appears increasingly confident in aligning itself politically against the United States and the West...	Lowy
	The CCP’s Increasingly Sophisticated Cyber-Enabled Influence Operations, April 2023. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) embrace of large-scale online influence operations and spreading of disinformation on Western social-media platforms has escalated since the first major attribution from Silicon Valley companies in 2019. While Chinese public diplomacy may have shifted to a softer tone in 2023 after many years of wolf-warrior online rhetoric, the Chinese Government continues to conduct global covert cyber-enabled influence operations. Those operations are now more frequent, increasingly sophisticated and increasingly effective in supporting the CCP’s strategic goals. They focus on disrupting the domestic, foreign, security and defence policies of foreign countries, and most of all they target democracies...	ASPI
	Quad Technology Business and Investment Forum Outcomes Report, April 2023. The Quad has prioritised supporting and guiding investment in critical and emerging technology projects consistent with its intent to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific. Governments cannot do this alone. Success requires a concerted and coordinated effort between governments, industry, private capital partners and civil society. To explore opportunities and challenges to this success, the Quad Critical and Emerging Technology Working Group convened the inaugural Quad Technology Business and Investment Forum in Sydney, Australia on 2 December 2022. The forum was supported by the Australian Department of Home Affairs and delivered by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI)...	ASPI
	War in Ukraine: Between Solution Finding and Global Bloc Building, April 2023. The war in Ukraine has had massive global repercussions and thus prompted responses from vastly different actors on the world stage. Russia’s invasion, although concentrated in one geographic area, has impacted society at large in ways that cannot be understated. The war has brought to light the geopolitical affiliations and tensions around the world, challenging previous power relationships and the westernized rules-based international order. This paper examines the role of different actors, including the European Union (EU), the United Nations (UN), Indo-Pacific actors, and India, in finding a solution to the conflict and the impact of their actions on the global geopolitical landscape. The European Union has been a key player in the conflict, with many member-states supporting Ukraine through sanctions and other measures...	ISDP
	Kenya and the Indo-Pacific: The Rationale for an “Outlook” and Why Kenya (and East Africa) Matters, April 2023. This issue brief argues that Kenya should carefully consider promulgating an Indo-Pacific outlook given the seismic shifts in global distributions of power and the resulting great power rivalry. The future of the region hangs in the balance and East African states like Kenya are already battling the headwinds associated with great power competition. The political economy of external state actors’ recent involvement in Kenya and the region has added to the charged geopolitical situation with China competing with Japan, India, and others for political and economic influence. In this context, this brief analyzes Kenya’s role and place in the Indo-Pacific and outlines the risks and rewards of a Kenyan Indo-Pacific approach.	ISDP
	Slowly Taking Off: Nordic-Taiwan Relations, April 2023. Taiwan has in recent years attracted increasing attention all over the world. It has become the focal point of conflict in the U.S.-China rivalry in the Indo-Pacific and has also become a major issue in Sino-European relations. In the Nordic countries, Taiwan has clearly begun to move away from the periphery of people’s view of the world and towards a position more in the foreground. One important reason for this is that the threat to Taiwan from Mainland China seems to have become more imminent. Many people in the Nordic countries worry that the present leaders in Beijing might resort to military force to bring Taiwan under their rule. This threat evokes a strong sense of sympathy for the people of Taiwan among people in the Nordic countries...	ISDP
	Unpacking Beijing’s Narrative on Taiwan, April 2023. Under the rule of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the pursuit of China’s global expansion has raised concerns in democracies across the globe that Beijing would undermine the regional balance of power and challenge the international rules-based order. Using a mix of inducement and coercion and displaying increasing assertiveness, Xi’s government has continued to project influence in its neighborhood and beyond. These efforts have so far had mixed results. Nonetheless, Xi has sought to weaken democratic governance and bolster China’s authoritarian model by shaping economic rules, technology standards and political institutions. Most importantly, Beijing’s priority remains to shape the international discourse to its advantage...	ISDP
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2023 #8: The Orientation of Chinese Newspapers in Indonesia as China Rises. Between late December 2019 and early January 2020, several Chinese fishing boats and coastguard vessels entered Indonesia’s Natuna waters illegally, generating diplomatic tensions between Jakarta and Beijing. Indonesian newspapers reported on these incursions from an Indonesian perspective, as one would expect, and on 2 January 2020, Kompas, the largest newspaper in the country, published a report with the title “Indonesia Rejects China’s Claims”. The following day, Tempo, a leading news magazine and daily newspaper, published a report with a similar headline “Indonesia Clearly Rejects China’s Claim Over the Northern Natuna Sea”. That same day, CNN Indonesia carried a provocative report with the headline “China’s Vessels Enter Natunas, the Indonesian National Army Get Ready to Fight”...	ISEAS
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2023 #7: Young Hearts and Minds: Understanding Malaysian Gen Z’s Political Perspectives and Allegiances. History books are filled with examples of angry youths, through fierce idealism and economic desperation, forcing through a change in the political landscape, either through protest, political participation and co-option or a peaceful or violent revolution. The self-immolation of a young and poor Mohamed Bouazizi, who exemplified the economic hardship of Tunisia’s youth population, sparked an anti-government uprising that soon spread across the Arab World: Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Syria, and Bahrain. Professor Mulderig of Boston University argued that the Arab Spring “could not have occurred without the ideological and numerical push of a huge mass of angry youth”. The most common protest profile was a young Arab aged 15 to 24, which represented approximately 20 per cent of the population in the region, resulting from years of high birth rates and prolonged lifespans...	ISEAS
	The Belt and Road Initiative in Cambodia: Costs and Benefits, Real and Perceived, March 2023. China is Cambodia’s largest bilateral donor, lender, investor, and trading partner. Economic relations have been strengthened by Cambodia’s active participation in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Participating in the BRI has costs and benefits. It has addressed infrastructure deficits, reducing trade and transport costs, supporting productivity and economic growth. This has improved living conditions and reduced poverty. On the negative side, there are concerns over environmental decay, land grabbing, and associated losses in livelihoods. Benefits appear to outweigh costs in Cambodia. Nevertheless, China is trying to improve the environmental, social and financial sustainability of BRI investments, following international criticisms...	ISEAS
	High Frequency Macroeconomic Forecasts Current Quarter Model: 2023Q2, April 2023. In 2022, Hong Kong’s economy experienced a 3.5% contraction, as opposed to the 6.4% growth in 2021. Further lifting of social distancing measures and the resumption of cross-border activities between Mainland China and Hong Kong allowed Hong Kong’s economy to rebound to 1.8% growth in 23Q1, after the 4.2% drop in 22Q4. As the number of tourists continues to increase, the job market is expected to improve, with the unemployment rate dropping from 3.3% in 23Q1 to 3.1% in 23Q2. Due to foreign contractionary monetary policies brought by persistent inflationary pressures in developed economies, Hong Kong’s external demand is dampened. Hong Kong’s imports and exports remain weak, hindering the pace of economic recovery in the first half of 2023. Hong Kong’s GDP is expected to grow by 2.8% in 23Q2...	HKU
	Latest APEC publications: Summary Report – APEC Workshop on Promoting Renewable Energy for Rural and Remote Area Development, April 2023 Capacity Building in Biotherapeutics and Cell/Gene Therapies in Latin America, April 2023 Guidebook on Biosecurity and Good Aquaculture Policies and Practices for small-scale farmers of tilapia (Oreochromis sp.) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), April 2023 Summary Report of APEC Workshop on Inclusive Business: Charting the Path for Shared Prosperity through Inclusivity, April 2023 Facilitating Access to Open Government Data: Frameworks and Practices, April 2023 Effects of Policies Promoting the Work-Life Balance in the Development of Women Who Lead Msmes, in the Context of the Post-covid-19 Economic Recovery, April 2023 APEC Chemical Dialogue: Risk Assessment Policy Tools, April 2023 Advancing Gender Equality in APEC Customs Administrations Final Report, April 2023 Utilizing Digital Technology in the Field of Trade Facilitation under the Current Covid-19 Pandemic and Beyond (Phase II): Best-Practices Sharing Workshops, April 2023 APEC Workshop to Identify Future Work on Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs) Affecting Grain Trade, April 2023 Project Report: Capacity Building on Marine Debris Management and Monitoring from Source as River is the Major Transport Pathway, April 2023 Tourism Industry of APEC region in the COVID-19 Recovery Period: Current Situation, Trends, and Challenges, April 2023 APEC Forum on Entrepreneurship for the Future of Work: Accelerating Regional Economic Recovery and Digital Inclusion for Women and Youth in the Post-Pandemic Era, April 2023 What Comes after SME Digital Transformation? —Measuring Effectiveness of Public Policy and Identifying Trends for the Post-Digital Era APEC Economic Impact of Adopting Digital Trade Rules: Evidence from APEC Member Economies, March 2023 Achieving Harmonization of a Biometric ID Management Framework across APEC Economies: Global Benchmarking Study, March 2023 APEC FinTech Scoping Study, March 2023 APEC Workshop on Enhancing Implementation of Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) through the APEC ODR Collaborative Framework and Other Fora Including Court, March 2023 Status Report: Cervical Cancer Elimination in the APEC Region, March 2023 APEC Green Finance Report – Unlocking the Urban Energy Transition, March 2023 APEC Life-long Learning and Skilling Project: Creating Onramps for Unemployed and Displaced Adults to Access Upskilling and Reskilling Opportunities, March 2023 APEC Workshop on Sharing Best Practices, March 2023 Promoting Gender Equality in the Telecommunications Industry for the Inclusive Recovery, March 2023 Empowering the Health Workforce through Digital Upskilling, March 2023	APEC
	Asian Development Outlook 2023 (Full Report, Highlights, Special Topic) The reopening of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) will boost regional economic growth through supply chain linkages and demand for goods and services. Growth in the PRC is expected to rebound to 5.0% this year from 3.0% in 2022. Healthy domestic demand in India will also support regional growth: India is forecast to grow by 6.4% in 2023. Growth in the Caucasus and Central Asia, the Pacific, and Southeast Asia will be lifted as tourism recovers. Meanwhile, headline inflation is expected to decelerate from 4.4% in 2022 to 4.2% this year and 3.3% in 2024. However, higher debt and interest rates have magnified financial stability risks, as evidenced by recent banking sector problems in the United States and Europe. An escalation in the Russian invasion of Ukraine could cause renewed surges in commodity prices, stoking global inflation and inducing further monetary tightening. Further, climate change and global fracturing remain persistent challenges. To confront these challenges, policy makers need to strengthen policies to ensure financial stability and actively support multilateralism to deepen regional cooperation.	ADB
	Asia in the Global Transition to Net Zero: Thematic Report of the Asian Development Outlook 2023. Developing Asia faces a climate policy crossroads. The region is highly vulnerable to climate change, even as it is an increasing contributor to the global climate crisis. This report models emission pathways based on commitments and pledges under the Paris Agreement and compares them with more optimal routes to net zero. It examines required transformations in the energy sector and land use and assesses socioeconomic implications. The report looks at policy costs, climate benefits, air quality co-benefits, and labor market outcomes, and discusses policies for an efficient and equitable transition.	ADB
	Latest ADBI Working Paper Series: Development of Climate Friendly Cooling Technologies: Trends and Driving Factors, 1990–2019, April 2023 How Can Public Expenditure Improve Households’ Sanitation Behavior? Experience of the Swachh Bharat Mission in the Indian State, April 2023 Navigating the Energy Trilemma during Geopolitical and Environmental Crises, April 2023 In-House R&D, Technology Transfer, and Firms’ Performance, April 2023 Greening the G7 Economies through a More Inclusive Climate Club, April 2023 The Russian Invasion of Ukraine and Its Impact on Digitalized Small Firms in Central and West Asia: Evidence from Rapid Surveys, April 2023	ADB
	Latest ADB Working Paper Series: Sovereign Debt Vulnerabilities in Asia and the Pacific, April 2023	ADB
	Latest ADB Publications: Basic Statistics 2023 Strategy 2030 Water Sector Directional Guide Summary: Water-Secure and Resilient Asia and the Pacific, April 2023 On the Road to Achieving Full Electrification in Sri Lanka, April 2023 Review and Assessment of the Indonesia–Malaysia–Thailand Growth Triangle Economic Corridors: Integrative Report, March 2023 Review and Assessment of the Indonesia–Malaysia–Thailand Growth Triangle Economic Corridors: Indonesia Country Report, March 2023 Review and Assessment of the Indonesia–Malaysia–Thailand Growth Triangle Economic Corridors: Malaysia Country Report, March 2023 Review and Assessment of the Indonesia–Malaysia–Thailand Growth Triangle Economic Corridors: Thailand Country Report, March 2023 The Role of Central Bank Digital Currencies in Financial Inclusion: Asia–Pacific Financial Inclusion Forum 2022, March 2023	ADB


April 2023

	Seeking to Undermine Democracy and Partnerships: How the CCP Is Influencing the Pacific Islands Information Environment, March 2023. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is conducting coordinated information operations in Pacific island countries (PICs). Those operations are designed to influence political elites, public discourse and political sentiment regarding existing partnerships with Western democracies. Our research shows how the CCP frequently seeks to capitalise on regional events, announcements and engagements to push its own narratives, many of which are aimed at undermining some of the region’s key partnerships. This report examines three significant events and developments: the establishment of AUKUS in 2021; the CCP’s recent efforts to sign a region-wide security agreement; the 2022 Pacific Islands Forum held in Fiji. This research, including these three case studies, shows how the CCP uses tailored, reactive messaging in response to regional events and analyses the effectiveness of that messaging in shifting public discourse online...	ASPI
	China, Climate Change and the Energy Transition, March 2023. This report surveys China’s enormous energy transition to renewables. It begins by sketching the energy challenges China faces and its climate-change-related energy policies, in the context of the global geopolitics of the energy transformation. Next the report focuses on conventional energy sources (oil and natural gas), followed by electricity, and energy technologies. Although the report is intended primarily to survey developments to date, it concludes with some brief observations about the considerable energy challenges China faces in the years ahead.	ASPI
	China, Climate and Conflict in the Indo-Pacific , March 2023. This paper surveys the current reporting and analysis on climate and security to explore the implications that climate change may have for China’s ability to prosecute its security goals in the region’s three major hotspots: the SCS, Taiwan and the India–China border conflict. Those three hotspots all involve longstanding border and territorial disputes between China and other nations and may draw in various levels of US involvement should China continue to escalate tensions.	ASPI
	Indo-Pacific Infrastructure Development Financing: An Agenda for Australia and Europe, March 2023. Financing infrastructure in developing economies has become an increasingly prominent international policy priority. As part of this, the Australian government and European Union (EU) are looking to improve the complementarity and coordination of their infrastructure financing efforts, especially in the strategically important Indo-Pacific region encompassing the developing economies of South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands. This is part of a broader effort that includes several other like-minded partners — most notably the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Governments in these countries are looking to step up their infrastructure financing efforts in response to geostrategic concerns about China’s rise as an infrastructure financier but also in recognition of the significant infrastructure financing gap faced by developing economies, including due to climate change and the need to support economic recovery amid the overlapping international crises that have characterised the early part of this decade, most notably the Covid-19 pandemic...	Lowy
	Valuing Longer, Healthier Lives: Assessing the Productivity of Health Spending in South Korea, March 2023. This research studies the link between medical spending and health outcomes in South Korea, providing evidence on the productivity of medical spending over recent decades. Current measures do not account for changing quality nor give providers any incentive for cost-effective substitution between forms of treatment for a given condition. By leveraging existing strengths of Korea’s National Health Insurance and health outcome data, Korea can develop an accurate measure of medical productivity and a more accurate measure of overall economic productivity, while becoming a global pioneer of “health satellite accounts” for overall populations...	EWC
	What North Korea Has Been Learning From Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine, March 2023. A year ago, in February 2022, Russia invaded its neighbor, Ukraine. Even though the war in Ukraine has implications for security in Northeast Asia, many Asian nations consider it a distant issue for Europeans to solve. However, this perspective mirrors what Europe’s Asian counterparts, especially the Koreans, have faced for decades. It serves as an apt analogy for explaining the dangers of North Korea to Europe. North Korea is also watching the war closely to discern what lessons or leverage can be extracted from the unfolding conflict. This short article reflects on two lessons and three opportunities that the War in Ukraine presents to Kim Jong Un and concludes with recommendations on what the Europeans could do in the near future...	EWC
	Two Peripheries: The Ukraine War's Effect on North Korea-Russia Relations, March 2023. Although ties between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Russia have been of largely secondary importance for both countries since their veritable rupture in the early- and mid-1990s, Moscow-Pyongyang relations became more mutually beneficial in 2022. Whereas most countries have outright condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or taken up an ambiguous position, the DPRK has been vocal in its support for Russia. From the DPRK perspective, the Kremlin’s post-2022 diplomatic and economic estrangement from much of the world has provided Pyongyang with an opening to leverage ties with Russia to push for an easing of its own diplomatic and economic isolation. Meanwhile, strengthening its DPRK ties allows Russia to undermine US influence on its Asian periphery...	EWC
	United Kingdom Engagement with North Korea, March 2023. The United Kingdom’s Korean War contribution to the United Nations Command was second only to the United States, with significant deployments of maritime and air assets in addition to the provision of ground troops. Almost 60,000 British troops saw action, with nearly 5,000 killed, wounded, missing in action, or taken prisoner. Following the armistice, the United Kingdom has continued to send representation to the United Nations Command. The armistice agreement includes an obligation on so-called “Sending States” to respond to renewed hostility. Although there is no automatic UK commitment to send forces, the armistice agreement remains a consideration in engagement with North Korea...	EWC
	North Korea-Germany Relations: An Ambassador's Perspective of Diplomacy with Pyongyang, March 2023. Germany established diplomatic relations with North Korea, also known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), in 2001 at the request of the South Korean government, which hoped that Germany and the European Union (EU) would play a more active role in supporting the “Sunshine Policy.” Since then, Germany, together with the other EU states, has sought to moderate North Korea through a “Policy of Critical Engagement” to convince it of the benefits of international cooperation, respect for the rule of law, and improving the political and economic situation of its people. In doing so, Germany could build on the long relationship between North Korea and the former East Germany...	EWC
	From Coy to Cold Shoulder - The European Union and North Korea, March 2023. The European Union (EU)—then 15 member states prior to its 2004 enlargement to 25—formally established diplomatic relations with Pyongyang in 2001 after a high-level visit to Pyongyang by Göran Persson, Swedish Prime Minister and then President in office of the European Council of Ministers. There, accompanied by EU security affairs chief Javier Solana and EU foreign affairs commissioner Chris Patten, he met with Kim Jong Il. Less than five years before, Commission officials were under orders not to even speak to officials from North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)...	EWC
	From Close Allies to Distant Comrades: The Ups and Downs of the Vietnam-North Korea Relationship, March 2023. In 2019, more than five decades after North Korean President Kim Il-sung’s last official trip to Vietnam in 1964, Kim’s grandson, North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un, visited the country at the invitation of the Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong. In a welcoming speech, Trong described the relationship, “although the road is long, our hearts are close.” Kim responded to Vietnamese hospitality, saying North Korea would “staunchly preserve and forever honor the North Korea-Vietnam friendship from generation to generation.”...	EWC
	North Korea-Guyana Relations in the Burnham Era, March 2023. During the reign of Forbes Burnham (1923-85), the South American republic of Guyana (formerly British Guiana) became one of North Korea’s greatest foreign policy success stories. Pyongyang not only acquired a new trading partner in the Americas but also gained a vocal advocate for its position on Korean unification on the international stage. These close ties grew in large part from Burnham’s admiration for North Korea, where he saw a highly disciplined citizenry united around the Great Leader, willing to work hard and sacrifice for the collective good. Guyana perhaps did more than any other single actor to help North Korea become viewed as an economic model for developing countries...	EWC
	A Monumental Relationship: North Korea and Namibia, March 2023. Visitors to Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia, will quickly learn a remarkable fact that is well-known among the local population—much of the capital’s architectural landscape is designed and constructed by North Korea. In recent years, North Korean nationals have built the official residence of the president of Namibia, the State House; the national cemetery for the fallen heroes of the liberation struggle, the National Heroes’ Acre; the national history museum, the Independence Memorial Museum; the Ministry of Defense headquarters and other buildings. The Namibian government thus uses North Korean aesthetics for some of the most important aspects of its power: the president, the history, and the army. This analysis explores the relationship between Namibia and North Korea by providing historical and political context to the aforementioned buildings...	EWC
	Engaging The Indo-Pacific: Some Pointers For Europe, March 2023. The regional dynamics of the Indo-Pacific Region (IPR), especially maritime security-related, are distinctly different from other regions, especially Europe. There are existential sub-regional dynamics that vary across the IPR, which need to be viewed through an Indo-Pacific lens and not a European or NATO lens. This issue brief argues that while the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict may temporarily impact European maritime security interactions in the Indo-Pacific, there is a parallel need to enhance capacity and capability and organizational interactions to shape the European approach to the IPR and enhance its maritime footprint in line with the common aim of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific.	ISDP
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2023 #6: Rhizome vs Regime: Southeast Asia’s Digitally Mediated Youth Movements. In various Southeast Asian countries, already weak democracies are being eroded by processes of democratic regression and reconsolidation of dynastic, autocratic and authoritarian regimes. At the same time, these countries have seen the rise of new protest movements, pioneered by a new generation of activist youth. Youth fuelled spectacular mass protests in Indonesia (2019–20), Thailand (2020–21) and Myanmar (2021–22), mounting a daring resistance to the erosion of democracy. In doing so, they experimented with new instruments and repertoires of action, characterized by creative uses of digital media and technologies...	ISEAS
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2023 #5: Tides of Insecurity: Vietnam and the Growing Challenge from Non-traditional Maritime Threats. Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam’s national liberation hero, once said, “Land is the house, sea is the door. How can we protect the house without guarding the door?”. Throughout history, foreign powers cracked open “the door” to Vietnam through sea-borne attacks multiple times. As such, defending Vietnam’s maritime space is of utmost importance, especially since Vietnam’s land borders have been secured through the conclusion of border treaties with Laos (1977), Cambodia (1985) and China (1999). Vietnam prioritizes the maritime frontier also for reasons beyond historical experience. It is a maritime nation with a coastline of 3,260 km and an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of more than 1 million km²—three times the size of its land area. Many of Vietnam’s 3,000 islands and archipelagos are of economic, security and strategic significance. Half of the Vietnamese population resides in 28 coastal provinces, and 80 per cent live within 160 km of the coastline...	ISEAS
	Latest APEC publications: APEC at a Glance, 2022 Outcomes and Outlook 2022/2023 APEC Regional Trends Analysis, February 2023 Update Building Randomness and Unpredictability into Aviation Security Countermeasure Development and Implementation: Project Summary, February 2023 Building Randomness and Unpredictability into Aviation Security Countermeasure Development and Implementation: Best Practices Guidelines, February 2023 CTI Public – Private Dialogue on Promoting Transparency of TBT WTO Notifications: Improving Completeness and Clearness of Information, February 2023 Promoting Energy Efficient and Resilient Data Centres in the APEC Region, February 2023 APEC Symposium on the Holistic Approach of Decarbonization towards Carbon Neutrality, February 2023	APEC
	Latest ADBI Working Paper Series: The Spillover Effects of Water Supply Infrastructure Development: A Theoretical Model, March 2023 Does Wild Food Contribute to Food Security? Evidence from Rural Bhutan, March 2023 Assessing Spatiotemporal Differences in Shrimp Ponds Using Remote Sensing Data and Machine Learning Algorithms, March 2023 Corporate Market Power and Monetary Policy Transmission in Asia, March 2023 Central Bank Asset Purchase Programs in Emerging Market Economies, March 2023 Digital Governance Pathways: Multidimensional Challenges in the Absence of a Scientific Foundation Are Not a Deterrent to Successful Implementation, March 2023 Do Political Connections Spur Technology Transfer? Evidence from India from a Governance Perspective, March 2023	ADB
	Latest ADB Working Paper Series: Technology and Wage Share of Older Workers, March 2023 Population Aging, Silver Dividend, and Economic Growth, March 2023	ADB
	Latest ADB Publications: ASEAN and Global Value Chains: Locking in Resilience and Sustainability, March 2023 Asia Bond Monitor, March 2023 Economic Applicability of the Automatic Identification System Data: Use Cases and the Way Forward, March 2023 Impact of High Trade Costs and Uncertain Time to Trade on Exports from Five Central Asian Countries, March 2023 Geographical Proximity and Trade Impacts in the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Program Region, March 2023 Finding Balance 2023: Benchmarking Performance and Building Climate Resilience in Pacific State-Owned Enterprises, March 2023 Accelerating Low-Carbon Pathways through E-Mobility: Perspectives from Developing Economies, March 2023 Mobilizing Revenue: Emerging Approaches to Managing and Collecting Tax Debt to Improve Tax Payment Compliance, March 2023 Reforms to Boost Long-Term Growth in the People’s Republic of China (Observations and Suggestions, March 2023 Georgia’s Emerging Ecosystem for Technology Startups, March 2023 A World in Crisis, a World in Progress: Growing Better Together, Published 2023	ADB


March, 2023

	2023 Asia Power Index - Key Findings Report. The annual Asia Power Index — launched by the Lowy Institute in 2018 — measures resources and influence to rank the relative power of states in Asia. The project maps out the existing distribution of power as it stands today, and tracks shifts in the balance of power over time. The Index ranks 26 countries and territories in terms of their capacity to shape their external environment — its scope reaching as far west as Pakistan, as far north as Russia, and as far into the Pacific as Australia, New Zealand and the United States. The 2023 edition — which covers five years of data up to 2022 — is the most comprehensive assessment of the changing distribution of power in Asia to date...	Lowy
	Abrogating the Visiting Forces Agreement: Its Effects on Philippines’ Security and Stability in Southeast Asia, February 2023. During much of 2022, the defense and security alliance between the United States of America and the Philippines, anchored on and reinforced by the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT, teetered on the brink of collapse. Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte brought relations to the brink through attempts to scuttle the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). This move would only embolden Chinese challenges to Manila’s territorial integrity and its aspirations to dominate Southeast Asia and the South China Sea. While the Duterte administration recited parochial reasons to terminate the VFA, pundits from the security and diplomatic sectors viewed Duterte’s attempts as a pretext to steer the Philippines towards China under his own brand and definition of an independent foreign policy...	EWC
	ASPI’s Critical Technology Tracker - The Global Race for Future Power 2023. Western democracies are losing the global technological competition, including the race for scientific and research breakthroughs, and the ability to retain global talent—crucial ingredients that underpin the development and control of the world’s most important technologies, including those that don’t yet exist. Our research reveals that China has built the foundations to position itself as the world’s leading science and technology superpower, by establishing a sometimes stunning lead in high-impact research across the majority of critical and emerging technology domains. China’s global lead extends to 37 out of 44 technologies that ASPI is now tracking, covering a range of crucial technology fields spanning defence, space, robotics, energy, the environment, biotechnology, artificial intelligence (AI), advanced materials and key quantum technology areas...	ASPI
	Countering China’s Coercive Diplomacy, February 2023. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is increasingly using a range of economic and non-economic tools to punish, influence and deter foreign governments in its foreign relations. Coercive actions have become a key part of the PRC’s toolkit as it takes a more assertive position in international disputes and seeks to reshape the global order in its favour. This research finds that the PRC’s use of coercive tactics is now sitting at levels well above those seen a decade ago, or even five years ago. The year 2020 marked a peak, and the use of trade restrictions and state-issued threats have become favoured methods. The tactics have been used in disputes over governments’ decisions on human rights, national security and diplomatic relations...	ASPI
	Be’er Sheva Dialogue 2022 - Proceedings and Outcomes, February 2023. The Eighth annual Be’er Sheva Dialogue was held in Canberra on 21 November 2022. The Dialogue is named in honour of the Battle of Beersheba (1917), with the 2022 Dialogue marking the 105th anniversary of the battle. Since its inception in 2015, the Dialogue has brought together defence officials, senior parliamentarians and analysts from both Australia and Israel to discuss areas of shared strategic interests and challenges, as well as the potential for collaboration...	ASPI
	ASEAN’s Evolving Alignment Strategy in the South China Sea: Between Middle and Major Power Dynamics, February 2023. ASEAN is a region of vital strategic importance where the United States’ Indo-Pacific strategy and China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) collide. To avert geopolitical uncertainty and to avoid being pulled into full-fledged conflicts between major powers, the ASEAN states have employed a ‘hedging strategy’ by combining elements of bandwagoning and balancing. However, such a middle-positioning or ambiguous strategy is now challenged as geopolitical tension rises in the South China Sea. The future order of this region will depend on strategic choices and the relative power positions of the ASEAN nations and their agreed modes of conflict and cooperation. This Focus Asia paper focuses on capturing the evolving hedging strategy of the ASEAN states in the South China Sea and its regional implications...	ISDP
	Quad in the Indo-Pacific: Role of Informality in Countering China, February 2023. The Quad, a highly informal intergovernmental organization in the Indo-Pacific, is a high-profile security grouping composed of Australia, India, Japan, and the US. For some observers, the Quad’s informality and lack of clear security commitments means it is little more than a “talk shop.” For others, it an emergent military alliance. This issue brief shows that the Quad’s overriding purpose is a bit of both via its core mission to meet the long-term security challenges posed by China to each Quad member and the quartet collectively. But rather than turning to an interlocking security alliance, the quartet looks for collective security and the protection of the jealously guarded sovereignty via the Quad’s informality. Indeed, informality is a geopolitical necessity for the Quad as it provides a workable format for four diverse members to coordinate security activities whilst maintaining equivocal positions vis-à-vis China. In the process, Australia, India, Japan, and the US have progressively strengthened bilateral, trilateral, and quadrilateral defense and security ties...	ISDP
	How Strategic Tech Cooperation Can Reinvigorate Relations Between the EU and India, January 2023. US-China strategic competition is the predominant challenge of this era and although it has fueled unprecedented tensions, it has also compelled the other regional and global major and middle powers to take on a larger role in shaping global governance architecture. Democratic actors like India, Japan, Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have become central partners in minimizing the repercussions of the US-China bipolar contest and spearheading an inclusive order in the Indo-Pacific. Notably, the fast-evolving political landscape not only mirrors the accelerating changes in new technologies but is also driven by this profound digital shift. For example, despite its economic and developmental gains, digitalization has allowed rogue state and non-state actors to exploit digital vulnerabilities inherent in a hyper-connected system...	ISDP
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2023 #4: GVC Reconfiguration: Risks and Opportunities for ASEAN Members. The COVID-19 pandemic, growing geopolitical tensions and trade disputes between the US and China, and the Russia-Ukraine war have further increased the risk of global value chain (GVC) disruptions and forced firms to strengthen resilience in their supply chains and operations. The GVC is the sequence of all functional activities required in the process of value creation involving more than one country (UNCTAD 2013). These activities range from preproduction (e.g., research and development, product design, and branding) to production and postproduction (e.g., marketing, distribution, and retailing). According to the World Bank (2020), about half of global trade involves GVCs, with services, raw materials, parts, and components crossing borders multiple times. However, GVCs are facing risks...	ISEAS
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2023 #3: The Indonesia National Survey Project 2022: Engaging with Developments in the Political, Economic and Social Spheres. It has been more than two decades since the beginning of the Reformasi (Reform Movement) era marked by the fall of President Suharto. Experts are generally divided into two camps that hold sharply different views about Indonesia’s achievements during that period. The first scholarly camp holds a gloomier view, observing that the old corrupt political oligarchic forces have persisted in sabotaging the country’s democratic structural reforms, taking the country back to the practices of the New Order era when corruption, collusion and nepotism were the political and business order of the day. According to this group, there is hardly any significant difference between the New Order and Reform eras. Meanwhile, the other scholarly camp provides a rosier picture of the democratization process in Indonesia. Government officials have also repeatedly made claims that Indonesia has indeed taken big strides forward politically and economically since the end of the New Order...	ISEAS
	Latest APEC publications: APEC Workshop on Opportunities and Challenges for GVCs during COVID-19 Pandemic and Post-Pandemic Economic Recovery, January 2023 Study on Best Practices in Using ODR, January 2023 Competition Policy: A Driver for Economic Recovery in the APEC Region, January 2023 Policy Dialogue Report Competition Policy and Digital Transformation, December 2022	APEC
	Latest ADBI Working Paper Series: Green Central Banking and Regulation to Foster Sustainable Finance, February 2023 Bond Market Spillover Networks during the Global Pandemic: What We Learned from ASEAN-4 Markets, February 2023 Policy Responses to Cope with COVID-19 in Viet Nam: An Empirical Stock-Flow-Consistent Approach, February 2023 Impact of Climate Change on Sovereign Risk in Asia, February 2023 Cost–Benefit Analysis of Spillover Tax Revenues of High-Speed Rail in Taipei,China, February 2023 Development of Capitals and Capabilities of Smallholder Farmers for Promoting Inclusive Intensification in Agriculture: Experiences from Northern West Bengal, India, February 2023 Benchmarking Adoption of E-commerce across the G20 Members, February 2023	ADB
	Latest ADB Working Paper Series: The Development of Local Currency Bond Markets and Uncovered Interest Rate Parity, February 2023	ADB
	Latest ADB Publications: Metals and Plastic Recycling in Maldives, February 2023 Evidence-Based Public–Private Collaboration in the Health Sector: The Potential for Collaborative Governance to Contribute to Economic Recovery from COVID-19 in Asia, February 2023 Gender Bonds: From Incidental to Center Stage, February 2023 Scaling Up Local Adaptation Measures through Climate-Responsive Decentralization Processes, February 2023 Observations and Suggestions-Youth Employment and the Pandemic Recovery in the People’s Republic of China, February 2023 Fed Tightening and Capital Flow Reversals in Emerging Markets: What Do We Know? February 2023 Appraising New Damage Assessment Techniques in Disaster-Prone Fiji, February 2023 How ADB is Strengthening Community Building through Online Communities, February 2023 Rethinking Infrastructure Financing for Southeast Asia in the Post-Pandemic Era, February 2023 Asian Economic Integration Report 2023: Trade, Investments, and Climate Change in Asia and the Pacific, February 2023 Uniquely Urban: Case Studies in Innovative Urban Development, February 2023 Imperatives for Improvement of Food Safety in Fruit and Vegetable Value Chains in Viet Nam, February 2023 Achieving a Sustainable and Efficient Energy Transition in Indonesia: A Power Sector Restructuring Road Map, February 2023 ASEAN+3 Bond Market Forum Brief No. 1—The Professional Bond Market: A Practical Introduction, January 2023 ASEAN+3 Bond Market Forum Brief No. 2—Professional Investor Concepts and Categories, January 2023	ADB


February, 2023

	Economic Sanctions During Humanitarian Emergencies: The Case of North Korea, January 2023. North Korea is experiencing yet another cycle of humanitarian distress. While sanctions are not the primary cause, they are a contributing factor. This essay examines the channels through which sanctions affect the North Korean economy and reaches four conclusions: First, sanctions have contributed to a deterioration of economic performance. Second, the UNSC’s 1718 Sanctions Committee should consider a thorough review to identify goods that would warrant blanket humanitarian financial sanctions have raised the risk premium on all financial transactions with North Korea; the sanctioning authorities need to do a better job of clarifying transactions permissible under humanitarian exemptions. Finally, while the global community should reassess its policies, the government of North Korea bears responsibility as well. The benefits of sanctions relief will be diminished if North Korea refuses to engage constructively with the international community on a broader range of issues running from basic humanitarian relief to economic reform...	EWC
	Asia's Push for Monetary Alternatives, December 2022. For the last quarter century, Asia has been seeking greater autonomy within the existing international monetary system. While the region has had the resources to go its own way, intraregional rivalries and a reluctance to damage ties to the US and the International Monetary Fund have put a damper on regional initiatives. Now the ascendency of China offers a path toward greater regional autonomy in monetary affairs. Asia, led by China, has been playing a two-track strategy pushing for greater influence within the existing global institutions, while developing its own parallel institutions such as the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization, the Belt and Road Initiative, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Use of the Chinese renminbi will likely grow as a trade invoicing currency but expanded use of the renminbi as a reserve currency is more uncertain...	EWC
	Understanding the Rohingya Crisis, January 2023. In consideration of their stateless status in Myanmar, prolonged refugeehood in Bangladesh, and their ongoing vulnerable position of the Rohingya, they are known as the world’s most persecuted minority. Despite living in Arakan/Rakhine state for centuries, Myanmar's Citizenship Law in 1982 rendered the Rohingya stateless as it conferred citizenship to 135 ethnic groups excluding the Rohingya. In 1978, Burmese security forces started Operation Nagamin, which produced the first Rohingya influx to Bangladesh (about 250,000). The second influx occurred in 1991-92 (about 200,000). Then, some 360,000 Rohingyas were repatriated to Bangladesh under an agreement brokered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)...	EWC
	Strengthening Japan-ROK Relations: The Prime Time to Rebuild Relations Through Young Parliamentary Diplomacy, November 2022. South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol began his remarkable administration by emphasizing the values of freedom and democracy, and the triangular Japan-U.S.-ROK relationship. Contrasting the previous administration, which prioritized reconciliation with North Korea, President Yoon embraced positive messages on restoring Japan-ROK relations even before taking office. On August 15, the National Liberation Day of Korea, President Yoon described Japan as a “neighbor that joins forces against the challenges that threaten freedom.” ...	EWC
	The AI Race: Collaboration to Counter Chinese Aggression, January 2023. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to replace humans, as it can help overcome language barriers, improve governance, deliver better healthcare, and create art. However, AI also has the potential to be highly disruptive, causing ripples that can alter the existing democratic world order. Using AI for facial recognition and leading crackdowns on dissenting citizens is just one of its many negative uses. In the international arena, particularly during conflicts, AI can collect voice samples from militarily sensitive regions, and the data collected could be used for automated extra-territorial mass surveillance. While the U.S. and China are the leaders in AI so far, other states have also started realizing its importance. In this context, it is essential to underline India’s AI experience. Democracies need to collaborate to ensure the current democratic world order does not get thwarted by revisionist powers using the malicious potency of AI...	ISDP
	China’s Pandemic Shift: The End of Dynamic zero-COVID, January 2023. Beginning with the anti-lockdown protests triggered by a fire in Xinjiang on November 24, this issue brief examines Beijing’s abrupt abandonment of zero-COVID mere days later and its underlying motivations. The government’s new pandemic discourse vis-á-vis the public downplays the severity of the virus and stresses individual over collective responsibility in now living alongside it. This messaging seeks to instill trust in the new approach, prepare the public for temporary difficulties, dilute responsibility, and reduce impending strain on public health resources while also characterizing the new approach as a calculated next step in fighting the pandemic. Yet, China’s new pandemic strategy is not without key challenges and significant risks in the year ahead—both for public health and Xi Jinping’s already imperiled pandemic leadership legacy...	ISDP
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2023 #2: Can Malaysia Eliminate Forced Labour by 2030? The spotlight has fallen on the persistent problem of forced labour in Malaysia lately, due to both infringements and policy responses. Forced labour encompasses harsh exploitation and abuse, but also less overt forms of coercion such as retention of passports, squalid living quarters and debt bondage, some of which have seemingly become endemic to the country. The intertwined phenomena of labour outsourcing and undocumented status have exacerbated worker vulnerability to forced labour conditions. Recent high-profile cases, especially involving import bans on rubber glove manufacturers and palm oil producers, and the country’s downgrade in the US Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report from three years in a row on Tier 2 Watch List to Tier 3 in 2021 and 2022 (US Department of 2021a; US Department of State 2022)...	ISEAS
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2023 #1: The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM): Implications for ASEAN-EU Relations. According to international frameworks, climate solutions need to be scaled up in critical international trade issues to fulfil the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals’ (UNSDG) goal 13, the 2015 Paris Agreement, and the decisions taken in the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26) and the subsequent conference in 2022 (COP 27). The European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are the two most successful regional blocs, and trade relations between the two are currently on an upswing trajectory. However, the EU’s current plan to impose a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) as part of the EU Green Deal will likely cause disputes with global partners, including ASEAN. This paper analyses the EU CBAM and its technical implementation and, most importantly, the possible implications of the EU CBAM on ASEAN-EU strategic relations...	ISEAS
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2022 #19: The Indonesian Military Enjoys Strong Public Trust and Support: Reasons and Implications. Scholars have long argued for the importance of public trust in institutions in the context of democratic consolidation. Gamson (1968, p. 42) argues that trust functions as the “creator of collective power” which allows state institutions to make decisions without using a violent approach or having to continuously get the specific approval of citizens for every decision. In the short term, public trust in governments could be the outcome of a long socialization process. In the longer term, however, as Mishler and Rose (1997) argue, trust must be earned; it is a public evaluation of institutions based on performance (Hirschman 1970). The military is no exception to this rule. In order for it to carry out its duties effectively, the military must gain high levels of public trust and confidence. Opinion polls have consistently shown that the Indonesian National Army (Tentara Nasional Indonesia, TNI) is the most trusted public or state institution in Indonesia. This situation is not unique to Indonesia...	ISEAS
	NUS Research on Ageing-Related Policies (2022), December 2022. This is a case study of a fast-ageing Asian society – Singapore – that examines the determinants of public attitudes towards social support and the attending fiscal policies that will enable its people to make this demographic transition well. In a decade, the old-age support ratio that indicates how many working age people there will be to support one person 65 years and older among Singapore citizens fell from 5.9 in 2012 to 3.3 this year, 2022. According to projections in the document Population in Brief 2022 that was compiled by five government agencies, this old-age support ratio for citizens is projected to fall further — to an uncomfortable 2.4 by the year 2030. A fast-ageing population is not a new policy challenge to the Singapore government. However, the felt impact of longevity is now emerging with force among the larger and current cohorts of those entering their 60s in the areas of work, care, recreation, health and finances...	IPS
	Online Youth Civic Engagement in Singapore, December 2022. Online civic engagement has gained a new momentum during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the limitations imposed on physical outreach events, many youths strategically tapped the affordances of popular social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter and TikTok to discuss civic issues and mobilise like-minded youths to support their causes. In recent years, there has been increasing research on understanding the nature of youth advocacy and activism in the online space in Singapore. However, they have primarily examined specific online movements and the use of older social media platforms like Facebook. Moreover, they have mostly focused on the perspectives and experiences of youth content creators supporting these movements but not that of general social media users who encountered such content either incidentally or intentionally...	IPS
	Current Realities, Social Protection And Future Needs of Platform Food Delivery Workers in Singapore, November 2022. The Institute of Policy Studies published a detailed report in February 2022 featuring results from a survey of private hire car drivers and ethnographic research. This paper focuses exclusively on food delivery riders and reflects the continuation of the institute’s efforts to shed light on platform work and workers. This report is based primarily on a survey of 1002 food delivery platform riders. This is complemented by data generated from an ongoing ethnographic work and with it, 48 in-depth interviews with riders. While respondents were generally satisfied with their work as food delivery riders, the study shows many areas where improvements in social protection are needed to safeguard workers welfare especially in the longer-term horizon...	IPS
	MAS Survey of Professional Forecasters, December 2022. The Dec 2022 Survey was sent out on 23 Nov 2022 to a total of 25 economists and analysts who closely monitor the Singapore economy. This report reflects the views received from 21 respondents (a response rate of 84.0%) and does not represent MAS’ views or forecasts. The Singapore economy expanded by 4.1% year-on year in Q3 2022. This exceeded the respondents’ median forecast of 3.9% in the previous survey. In the current survey, respondents expect the economy to grow by 2.1% in Q4 2022. The respondents expect GDP to expand by 3.6% in 2022, up slightly from 3.5% in the previous survey...	MAS
	Project Orchid Whitepaper, October 2022. Project Orchid is a multi-year, multi-phase exploratory project examining the various design and technical aspects pertinent to a retail CBDC system for Singapore, from its functionalities to its interaction with existing payment infrastructures. Though MAS has assessed that there is no urgent need for a retail CBDC in Singapore at this point in time, MAS seeks to facilitate ongoing learning and advance the financial infrastructure in Singapore...	MAS
	National Strategy for Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT), October 2022. Taking into account the findings of the Terrorism Financing National Risk Assessment (TF NRA) 2020, Singapore formulated our National Strategy for Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT). The National CFT Strategy forms the blueprint that outlines Singapore’s national approach to address our TF risks and serves as the roadmap to guide the development of future action plans to effectively prevent, detect, investigate, and enforce against TF. It also enhances the coordination of actions across law enforcement agencies, policy makers, regulators and supervisors, and as appropriate, the private sector, in Singapore...	MAS
	Latest ADB Publications: Asia’s Progress Toward Greater Sustainable Financial Market Efficiency and Integrity, January 2023 Planning and Capacity Building for High-Speed Rail Development in India: Five Key Lessons, January 2023 Conflict Resolution: The Way Forward, January 2023 Countering Trade-Based Money Laundering, January 2023 Disaster Displacement: Indonesia Country Briefing, January 2023 Understanding Social Perceptions of Postsecondary Education and Training in Bhutan, January 2023 Financial Digitalization and Its Implications for ASEAN+3 Regional Financial Stability, January 2023	ADB
	Latest ADB Working Paper Series: Nowcasting from Space: Impact of Tropical Cyclones on Fiji’s Agriculture, January 2023	ADB
	Latest ADBI Working Paper Series: To Borrow or Not to Borrow: Empirical Evidence from the Public Debt Sustainability of Pakistan, January 2023 Technology, Innovation, and Firm Competitiveness: Firm Level Analysis in Cambodia, January 2023 Creative India: Tapping the Full Potential, December 2022 Market Access and Firm Performance: Evidence Based on GIS Analysis of Road Network and Manufacturing-Plant-Level Data from India. December 2022	ADB
	Latest APEC publications: Strategies and Initiatives on Digital Financial Inclusion: Lessons from Experiences of APEC Economies, December 2022 Building a Culture of Security and Countering the Insider Risk: Project Summary, December 2022 Building a Culture of Security and Countering the Insider Risk: Best Practices Guidelines, December 2022 APEC Policy Brief on EAASR and ASCR: Services Competitiveness and Structural Reform, December 2022	APEC
	Journal of Global Buddhism, Volume 23, No. 1 & 2, 2022 and Volume 22, No 1 & 2, 2021.	JGB


January, 2023

	High Frequency Macroeconomic Forecasts Current Quarter Model: 2023Q1, January 2023. Hong Kong’s economy underwent a contraction of 3.1% in 2022, which is in stark contrast to the 6.3% robust growth in 2021. Underpinned by loosening of social distancing measures and lifting of travel restrictions, Hong Kong’s real GDP is estimated to have a lesser drop of 2.6% in 22Q4, compared to the 4.5% drop in 22Q3. The job market is expected to improve further due to the reopening of the Mainland China border with the unemployment rate dropping from 3.7% in 22Q4 to 3.5 in 23Q1. Interest rates hikes brought by monetary contraction to fight surging inflation in various developed economies constrained Hong Kong’s economic growth in the first half of 2023. Hong Kong’s GDP is expected to grow by 1.0% in 23Q1. The economic outlook in 2023 remains optimistic and a stable economic recovery is expected. Overall, Hong Kong’s real GDP is forecast to grow by 2.5% for the year of 2023...	HKU
	Mixed Report Card: China’s Influence at the United Nations, December 2022. China is of growing importance to the United Nations. Beijing aims to exert influence at the world body to legitimise and disseminate its foreign policy values and interests. This report contextualises China’s growing presence at the United Nations by examining publicly available data on four metrics that gauge Beijing’s success in steering the global governance agenda. Those metrics are: funding for UN departments, programs, and initiatives; staffing of executive-level personnel positions; voting in the UN General Assembly and UN Security Council; and the use of PRC-specific discourse and language in UN-generated documentation...	Lowy
	Sharper Choices: How Australia Can Make Better National Security Decisions, December 2022. As Australia’s national security environment has grown more complex and competitive, the country’s governments have gradually articulated their strategic response, primarily in the 2016 Defence White Paper, the 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper, and the 2020 Defence Strategic Update. In these documents, and in major speeches, Australian governments have adopted four broad strategic concepts: the embattled rules-based order, the return of great power competition, the expansion of grey zone competition, and the increased likelihood of major power war. There is no master theory that can entirely explain Australia’s situation and guide its decision-makers. A national security strategy is necessary, but its utility will be limited by the increasingly unpredictable course of geopolitics...	Lowy
	State-Sponsored Economic Cyber-Espionage for Commercial Purposes: Tackling an Invisible but Persistent Risk to Prosperity, December 2022. As part of a multi-year capacity building project supporting governments in the Indo-Pacific with defending their economic against the risk of cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, ASPI analysed public records to determine the effects, the actual scale, severity and spread of current incidents of cyberespionage affecting and targeting commercial entities. In 2015, the leaders agreed that ‘no country should conduct or support ICT-enabled theft of intellectual property, including trade secrets or other confidential business information, with the intent of providing competitive advantages to companies or commercial sectors.’...	ASPI
	‘Impactful Projection’: Long-Range Strike Options for Australia, December 2022. The Australian Government has stated that the ADF requires greater long-range strike capability. This was first stated by the previous government in its 2020 Defence Strategic Update (DSU), which emphasised the need for ‘self-reliant deterrent effects’. The present government has endorsed that assessment: Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles has stated that ‘the ADF must augment its self-reliance to deploy and deliver combat power through impactful materiel and enhanced strike capability—including over longer distances.’ He’s coined the term ‘impactful projection’ to describe the intended effect of this capability, which is to place ‘a very large question mark in the adversary’s mind.’...	ASPI
	The Indian Farmer Makes Her Voice Heard, December 2022. In August 2020, thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh, gathered on the outskirts of India’s national capital, New Delhi, to protest the passage of three controversial “farm laws” perceived by these farmers as threats to their livelihoods and well-being. Though the farm laws would affect only a small percentage of India’s farmers, over the next 16 months the protests attracted participation from across the country, cutting across class, caste, gender, and religious identities. While the proximate driver seemed to be the farmers’ fear of losing legal protections against a collapse in the market price of their produce, broader economic, ecological, and social factors helped trigger the movement. The protestors employed several strategies that made their movement successful enough in pushing back against a hugely popular government to bring about a repeal of the laws the farmers objected to.	EWC
	Financial Stability Review, November 2022. Risks to the global financial stability outlook have intensified, as economies contend with tighter financial conditions, higher inflation and slowing growth. Heightened geopolitical tensions and the attendant impact on supply chain disruptions, as well as economic and financial fragmentation, add further downside risks to the conjuncture. The most immediate risk is a potential dysfunction in core international funding markets and cascading liquidity strains on non-bank financial institutions that could quickly spill over to banks and corporates. Tighter financial conditions and highly volatile markets could give rise to liquidity imbalances that central banks and fiscal authorities need to adequately address to avoid precipitating a disorderly liquidation of assets...	MAS
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2022 #18: "STANNING” NAJIB: Fanning a Personality Cult in Malaysian Politics. On 24 August 2022, the day after Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak failed in his final appeal to the Federal Court to overturn his graft conviction, a group of 200 Najib loyalists from Pertubuhan Jalinan Perpaduan Negara Malaysia launched a petition calling for a royal pardon for Najib (Leong 2022). That petition was also uploaded to the website change.org. Within a brief span of time, a counter-petition by Bersih was launched with a list of reasons as to why such an extrajudicial action should not be countenanced by the ruling King (Gabungan Pilihanraya Bersih dan Adil Bersih 2022). As of this writing, the anti-pardon petition garnered 126,363 supporters (Gabungan Pilihanraya Bersih dan Adil Bersih 2022), significantly outnumbering the pro-Najib petition which garnered 11,259 supporters (Ibrahim Ismail 2022). Are these numbers representative of...	ISEAS
	Real Exchange Rate and Firm Productivity: The Case of Vietnamese Manufacturing, December 2022. This study investigates the relationship between the real exchange rate and firm productivity. Using the difference-in-differences methodology, a persistent real appreciation in VND has a positive effect on firm productivity in the Vietnamese manufacturing sector. One of the mechanisms that could explain this effect is that real appreciation boosts firm productivity through R&D. Small and medium-sized firms benefit more from real appreciation than large firms.	ISEAS
	Strategic Policies for Digital Economic Transformation: The Case of Malaysia, November 2022. Malaysia’s first attempt at digital economic transformation began in the mid-1990s and lasted for some 15 years. The Multimedia Super Corridor has some initial success but underachieved in some areas. The second phase of strategic policies took place in the period 2016-2021 with the launch of four successive policies and plans dealing with e-commerce, 4IR manufacturing and digital economy. The legal and regulatory landscape for the digital economy has also evolved. Significant challenges lie ahead given the prevailing digital divide and unevenness in ICT adoption across industries.	ISEAS
	Finland-Taiwan Relations: An Overview and Changes after COVID-19 Pandemic, December 2022. Despite the lack of formal diplomatic relations between Finland and Taiwan, the two sides have maintained a practical relationship through trade, tourism, and educational and cultural exchanges. The COVID-19 pandemic has created some favorable ground for certain breakthroughs, be it in terms of the Finnish government’s action plan to support Taiwan’s meaningful international participation, Finnish reports that offer more diverse views on Taiwan’s society beyond international politics, or a Finnish parliamentarian’s help in implementing Taiwan’s mask diplomacy in the Finnish context. In general, the Foreign Ministry in Finland has been vigilant in ensuring that the One China Policy does not become unnecessarily restrictive...	ISDP
	Japan Leads the Way in Global Health Diplomacy: The Case of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), December 2022. This issue brief aims to investigate Japan’s policy toward “neglected tropical diseases” (NTDs) in light of Japan’s global health diplomacy. It confirms the significance of the so-called ‘Hashimoto Initiative’ as the origin of Japan’s global health diplomacy toward NTDs. This issue brief looks at the three cases of NTDs in Japan, i.e. dengue fever, Hansen’s disease, and lymphatic filariasis, and how Japan succeeded in controlling and eradicating the diseases domestically. It then examines the significance of the establishment of the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund) in relation to Japan’s global health diplomacy. Finally, it explores the future scenario of Japan’s global health diplomacy to control and eradicate NTDs at the G7 Hiroshima Summit to be hosted by the Kishida administration in May 2023.	ISDP
	Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2022 Supplement: Global Gloom Dims Asian Prospects. Global and regional developments since September have been roughly in line with pessimistic expectations laid out that month in the Asian Development Outlook 2022 Update. The world economy chugged along in the third quarter (Q3) of this year but is now set to slow markedly, weighed down by weakening in the United States, euro area, and People’s Republic of China (PRC). Persistently elevated inflation in the US led the Federal Reserve to raise its policy rate in November by 75 basis points, the fourth consecutive hike of that magnitude. Despite a resilient labor market, investment prospects and consumer confidence worsened, suggesting that the Q3 rebound to seasonally adjusted annualized growth of 2.6% will be short-lived...	ADB
	Latest ADB Publications: Pacific Economic Monitor – December 2022: The Future of Social Protection in the Pacific Developing Airport Systems in Asian Cities: Spatial Characteristics, Economic Effects, and Policy Implications, December 2022 Battling Climate Change and Transforming Agri-Food Systems: Asia–Pacific Rural Development and Food Security Forum 2022 Highlights and Takeaways Social Protection Indicator for Pacific: Tracking Developments in Social Protection, December 2022 Data Management Policies and Strategies in Government, December 2022 The Social Protection Indicator for Asia: Tracking Developments in Social Protection, December 2022 Liberalizing Services Trade in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership: Status and Ways Forward, December 2022 Last Mile Connectivity: Addressing the Affordability Frontier, December 2022 The Impact of COVID-19 Mobility Restrictions on Trade Facilitation at Borders in the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Region, December 2022 A Comparative Analysis of Tax Administration in Asia and the Pacific: Sixth Edition, Published 2022 Critical Issues for Fiscal Reform in the People’s Republic of China Part 1: Revenue and Expenditure Management, December 2022 Driving Inclusive Digitalization in Trade and Trade Finance, December 2022 The Green, Social, Sustainable and Other Labeled (GSS+) Bonds Initiative for Southeast Asia, December 2022 The Financial and Institutional Mechanism of the Sanitation and Wastewater Management System: Learning from the Japanese Experience, December 2022 The Long-Term Growth Prospects of the People’s Republic of China, December 2022 Developing a Sustainable Agricultural Insurance System in the People’s Republic of China, December 2022 Unlocking the Economic and Social Value of Indonesia’s State-Owned Enterprises, December 2022	ADB
	Latest ADB Working Paper Series: Application of Machine Learning Algorithms on Satellite Imagery for Road Quality Monitoring: An Alternative Approach to Road Quality Surveys, December 2022 A Gender-Sensitive Earthquake Recovery Assessment Using Administrative and Satellite Data: The Case of Indonesia’s 2016 Aceh Earthquake, December 2022	ADB
	Latest ADBI Working Paper Series: Rural Development in Bangladesh Over Four Decades: Findings from Mahabub Hossain Panel Data and the Way Forward, December 2022 Healthy Urban Rivers as a Panacea to Pandemic-Related Stress: How to Manage Urban Rivers, December 2022 ICT, Online Search Behavior, and Remittances: Evidence from the Kyrgyz Republic, December 2022 An Overview of Climate Change, the Environment, and Innovative Finance in Emerging and Developing Economies, December 2022 Gender, Entrepreneurship and Coping with the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case of GoFood Merchants in Indonesia, December 2022	ADB
	Latest APEC publications: Trade Networks amid Disruption: Promoting Resilience through Digital Trade Facilitation, December 2022 Transitioning to a Sustainable Economy while Ensuring Inclusion, December 2022	APEC
	Hmong Studies Journal, Vol. 24, 2022	HSJ